Corporal
by fragrantpharaoh
Summary: Natsumi is having her first baby with her new husband Saburo, and that apparently means a lot of tears and happiness. Well, for everyone else, maybe, but not for Kululu, who couldn't care less. And of course, Giroro isn't too thrilled about it either. But is that really his only problem? Kululu tries to find out, and ends up getting more than he bargained for...
1. 1

**Greetings! After millennia of editing, crying, and lots of head-banging, the first chapter of my Keroro Gunso romance/relationship study thingy is ready to be published!**

 **First off, something very important to note is that I am using gijinkas to write this, due to personal preference.  
**

 **This story is told from Kululu's point of view.**

 **Also, this takes place about 18 years after the show ends, so the platoon has been there for approx. 25 years now.**

 **Anyway, I think that's all I had wanted to mention, so let me know what you think!  
It won't be that long in between uploading chapters, so you don't have to worry~**

 **If you have any questions, please PM me!**

 **(The cover for this fanfiction was made for me by the lovely Jinxitis on deviantart)  
**

* * *

I feel my head jerk forward and hurriedly sit back up. I had started to doze off.

And how couldn't I? We've been in and out of this same damn waiting room for two days.

I stifle a yawn and cross my legs before glancing around at my companions.

Dororo is curled up in a chair across from me with his eyes closed (though, he, unlike me, probably hasn't actually fallen asleep).

Keroro is sitting to my left and chatting to Tamama in a forcibly casual way about something. He's clearly trying to disguise the fact that he's terribly anxious.

Giroro sits quietly next to me with his eyes unfocused and a slight crease between his eyebrows. I vaguely wonder what he's thinking about.

One of the nurses we'd been speaking to earlier walks into the room and Keroro jumps up.

"Excuse me, can I ask you something...?" he says tentatively. "Is it normal for it to take this long? I mean, I know these things take time, but it's been, like, two days now!"

"Well, sir, at this point I'd say she's taking a little longer than average. It's nothing to worry about though, the length of labor is different for everyone."

"Okay... thank you."

The nurse nods and walks out of the waiting room. Keroro lingers for a moment, and then returns to his seat. He leans forward, peering around me to see Giroro.

"Giroro? Do you think she's okay?" he asks him.

It takes the corporal a moment to realize he is being spoken to. After several seconds, he turns to Keroro. "... What?"

"Do you think Natsumi's okay?" Keroro repeats.

"Uh, yeah. Yes, I'm sure she's fine."

When he speaks, I notice something on his breath that I can't place at first, then recognize as being alcohol.

Alcohol? Giroro never drinks. Why does he smell like booze?  
Maybe it was someone else, someone who passed by...

I don't have time to ponder this further, however, because at that moment we hear Natsumi give a yell of pain. The others stand up when they hear it.

"She must be ready to give birth," says Dororo, speaking for the first time in hours. "Where's Saburo?"

"He left to pick up Aki; he should be here soon," Tamama says.

A few seconds later, Saburo sprints across the waiting area and into Natsumi's room. He is followed closely by Aki.

* * *

The delivery takes a negligible amount of time compared to the labor. Within fifteen minutes, we hear the cry of an infant coming from the room, followed by joyful exclaims from Natsumi and her family.

Keroro gives a shaky laugh. "... She did it...!" He looked relieved.

A few minutes later, Saburo comes out, smiling. "It's a boy! We're naming him Yasuo. He weighs six pounds, two ounces, and he's fourteen inches long. He and Natsumi are both doing great."

There's overlapped congratulatory chatter from the others, and then Saburo motions behind him. "You guys can come see her and Yasuo now if you want."

We all file into Natsumi's room and see the new mother holding her baby. She looks exhausted, but pleased.

"Hey, guys," she says softly.

Saburo walks over to her and carefully takes the infant into his arms before going to Keroro.

"Do you want to hold him?"

Keroro's face flushes excitedly. "Yes!" Saburo hands his child to the sergeant, whose features immediately flood with delight. Tamama and Dororo get closer.

"He's so cute!" Tamama exclaims.

"He looks just like you," Dororo says serenely to Natsumi.

"Giroro?" Saburo asks, gesturing to his son.

The corporal nods, and gently takes the infant into his arms.

I look at him as he holds the child. Unlike Keroro, Tamama, and Dororo, there isn't joy on his face. He doesn't look aggravated, like he usually does, but he doesn't look happy either. In fact, I can see that his expression is closer to mournful.

I suddenly remember that I've seen him look like this before. He's making the same face he did when Natsumi and Saburo first started dating... and when they got married... and when they announced the pregnancy...  
Oh, for god's sake.

That's what this is about? After all these years, he's still hung up on the young Hinata?

The corporal notices me staring at him and quickly adjusts his face so that he looks happier. He moves closer to me and quietly mutters something about Yasuo that I don't care enough about to listen to.

I gaze at the child's face and see that Dororo is right: he resembles Natsumi very much. Though, of course, I'm able to pick out features of Saburo's as well.

In spite of myself, I feel the corners of my mouth twitching. I'm not one for Pekoponian children, or any children for that matter, but there's no denying that this one _is_ kind of cute.

I glance up at Natsumi. "Very nice," I say simply.

She smiles at me and mouths the words, "Thank you."

"Hey, where's Fuyuki?" Tamama asks. "Shouldn't he be here?"

"He's abroad with Momoka in Scotland right now. They were planning on getting back before Natsumi was due, but Yasuo came early so he couldn't make it."

"Oh, that's too bad..."

"Yeah, but it's okay," says Natsumi. "He'll be back in about a week."

We stay and chat for a few minutes longer, but after Natsumi starts nodding off in the middle of talking, it's clear that we should go home and let her rest.

As we leave, I notice the corporal pull a flask from his jacket and surreptitiously take a swig from it. I guess he _was_ the one who smelled like booze earlier.

That's weird.  
Giroro is an incredibly uptight person with a stick up his arse and very specific personal rules about the things he does. And one of his specific personal rules is that he almost never drinks, even on special occasions. He says that it's pointless and does more damage than it's worth.

I make a mental note to try to pay closer attention to him now that I know that he's bothered enough to break his own rules.


	2. 2

**Howdy! Whoooo's ready for chapter 2?**

 **You are!**

 **(I see you, you people in Italy and France and Canada, viewing my fanfiction :P)**

 **As always, PM me with any questions and be sure to leave a review!**

* * *

After a week with their new baby, Natsumi and Saburo decide that maybe it would be better to move back with us for a few months so that Aki can give them some help.

This means that there are a lot more people in the house than usual, since for the past few years it's been just us and Aki.

I spend most of my time in the underground base, however, so I don't care. I won't have to interact with the other occupants of this house any more than I normally would.

That's what I _thought_ , at least. I was wrong.

Giroro has started spending nearly all of his time in the base, like me. He started off coming down only when Natsumi was in the living room or kitchen, somewhere he couldn't easily avoid her, but now he's down here almost as often as I am.

I think that he's completely pathetic. He's been lusting after this girl for the better part of _twenty years_ , and even now, even with her being a wife and a mother, he still lets it control him to the point where he can't even be in the same room as her.

I don't let any of my feelings about his being a poor excuse for a man show, though. Not because I don't want him to know what I think of him sometimes or anything, but because I just don't care enough to express my opinion.

I keep wondering if he's planning on taking off. The thought makes me unhappy, but I know that it's a very real possibility. At this point, there's very little reason for him to stay. He's not really doing anything productive, the girl he loves is married to another man, and I don't even think the Keron army recognizes us as a part of it anymore. For the first few weeks of the new parents' being here, I'm constantly expecting him to leave.

I tell myself that I don't care if he leaves. I say this over and over in my head, but deep down, even if I don't fully acknowledge it, I know that it isn't true.

Even if I think that he's currently kind of worthless, Giroro's still one of the only people I genuinely like. I like him a lot, too.

And I don't want him to go.

* * *

Luckily for me, however, he doesn't. The weeks drag on, and still he stays.

Actually, I'm pretty happy these days. Since I'm the only person down in the base on a regular basis, we end up spending a lot of time together. He rarely talks during this time, but that doesn't matter to me. I don't speak a whole lot myself, anyway.

It's starting to get cold, and the sunlit hours are decreasing. It rains almost every day now, and a quiet, sleepy hush settles over the house.

I begin to slip into my wintertime sleep schedule almost as soon as September ends. This means staying up into the early hours of the morning every night, rising late, and frequently napping. I am aware that this is terrible for my body and that I should be on a more regulated and healthy routine, but I honestly couldn't care less.

* * *

One night in mid-November I abruptly wake up to find myself with my forehead down on the table in the meeting room.

At first, I'm so groggy that I can't remember how I got here, then I remember that the others and I had all been sitting here together earlier.  
I can't exactly recall what we'd been doing, but I don't try too hard to remember because I'm pretty sure it was boring. I suppose I must have fallen asleep at some point.

I rise from my seat, stretching my numb legs out. Once feeling returns to them, I skulk off to my room, intent on going back to sleep.

Halfway there, though, I start thinking about curry.

And once I start thinking about it, there's no real way to stop.

I pass a clock and see that it's nearly four in the morning. I reason that it's too late, especially since eating curry would involve cooking it beforehand, which it is much too late for. I decide that I should continue on my way to bed because it's too late for all that.

I know that it's too late.

I know that.

But that doesn't stop me from going upstairs and making my way to the kitchen anyway, now does it?

A few minutes later, I'm climbing out of the pseudo-fridge in Keroro's room and quietly crossing to his door. I go down the basement hallway and climb up the ladder to the main part of the house.

As soon as I've pulled myself to my feet I know that I'm not the only one awake. The living room door is ajar, and I can see light coming through it.

I silently open the door a little bit wider and slip through it. The light source is the lamp in the kitchen. The other person who's awake is Giroro.

He's leaning against the counter with his back to me. Sitting next to him is a half-empty bottle of hard alcohol and in his hand is a full glass.

Soundlessly, I walk over. When I'm less than a foot behind him, I say, "Evening, corporal."

He jumps and quickly turns around, accidentally dropping his glass in the process. It shatters on the floor and liquor seeps into my socks.

" _Kululu! What the hell are you doing?!_ " he shouts angrily, swaying a little.

I'm quiet for a moment while I look him up and down. His face is blotchy red and he's sweating like a fiend.

He's also in an odd state of undress. He's not wearing shoes (which he always does - indoors or out). For whatever reason, his pants are unbuckled. His jacket is undone and hanging off one arm, and his tie is untied. He isn't even wearing his hat, which is instead shoved into one of his back pockets.

"... What the hell are _you_ doing?" I ask.

He sputters an unintelligable answer. Damn, he's seriously plastered.

"So, corporal, this is how you deal with things now?"

He slurs something that kind of sounds like, "You don't even know!"

"You're pitiful. You know, you used to be a soldier." I know that this will really sting, and that's why I say it. I'm not sure why, but his actions are making me angry. Apparently, my actions made him angry too.

He grabs his liquor bottle and hits me across the head with it. He moves so fast that I don't even have time to raise my hands. The pain is intense and sends a shock through my body. I stumble backwards and end up on the ground.

I give a yell of pain and Yasuo wakes up and starts wailing. I hear his parents get up. Saburo tends to the child, while Natsumi storms downstairs to us.

She throws open the kitchen door and bellows at us for a few moments. She seems torn between wanting to shout at us and going back upstairs to her child, though. She ends up not staying long, instead choosing to return to her baby.

Once her voice isn't in the mix anymore, I can hear that Giroro is screaming hysterically at me too, though I've no idea what he's saying. He gives me another smack, cracking my glasses, before picking up his liquor bottle and draining it.

He points at me in an accusatory way, mumbling something garbled that I can't quite understand. Then he hiccups, takes a step towards me, and composes himself enough to shout, "God, I effing _hate_ you!" before reeling and falling to the floor.

Of course, he just _had_ to land in the broken glass shards and liquor. Blood immediately flows from where the glass cuts into him, but he doesn't care because he's unconscious.

I sit there on the kitchen tile for several minutes, a little shaken. I listen as Yasuo's cries lower in volume and eventually stop.

I bring my hand up to where the bottle hit me and feel pain and a sizeable lump. The ache makes me consider leaving him to bleed and wake up in shame.

Eventually though, I get up and pull the corporal from the glass shards and puddle of booze (which I don't bother to clean up).

I find a medical kit in the cabinet and sit down next to him with it. I spend the next twenty minutes carefully pulling broken glass out of his face, chest and arms, and cleaning the wounds. Then, I get a damp cloth and wipe the blood and alcohol from his face. Finally, I remove his jacket and tie, set them next to him, re-buckle his pants, and stand up.

After that, I feel like there's not much else I can do (since I'm not strong enough to carry him or anything), so I turn off the lights and quietly return to the base.

Once I'm in my room, I look at the clock. It's nearly six.

There's only a few more hours until the rest of the house wakes up, so I remove my glasses, put them in my lap, and settle down in my chair to try to get a bit more sleep. But this proves very difficult. I didn't understand most of what Giroro had been shouting, but I heard that last thing.

 _God, I effing hate_ _you!_

I'm used to his shouting at me. He does that to everyone. He's been doing it for years, and it doesn't bother me.

But he's never said that he hates me before. I firmly tell myself that I don't care, and once again don't entirely believe myself.

I eventually do find sleep, but it's very restless and even while sleeping I can't stop thinking about what he said.

In the end, it turns out I was right.

It was much too late for curry.


	3. 3

**I know that this fic is a little slow at first, but don't worry, it gets better in just a few chapters~ ;P**

 **And I got my first review! That's exciting! Though, it's a guest review so I can't reply to it...**

 **But thank you to SoulessAlpha for leaving a very nice review! I'm glad that you like the concept, that's something I've been worrying that people wouldn't like... And I agree, our dear corporal _is_ being a little pathetic, huh?  
Personally, I dislike the entire idea of GiroNatsu, seeing how she's THIRTEEN FRIGGIN YEARS OLD YOU _ANIMALS_ SHE'S A CHILD AND HE'S THE EQUIVALENT OF A MIDDLE AGED MAN THEY CAN'T BE TOGETHER NOt to mention I personally don't even see much chemistry between them and think that a lot of Giroro's love and devotion is very likely to be infatuation rather than actual love...  
Ah, I could go on for hours about this show. But this is getting off-topic! On to what's really important right now, Giroro and Kululu's relationship! 3**

 **(PM me for questions and leave a review!)**

* * *

I wake up a little bit after eight in the morning. I'm on the verge of going back to sleep when I think of Giroro. I wonder if he's up yet.

With so little sleep, I'm very tired, but I go ahead and put my glasses back on and get up because I'm curious to see how the corporal's doing.

I head upstairs to the kitchen. The others are there, milling about sleepily, but Giroro is absent.

Someone has already cleaned up the spilled alcohol and broken glass. I think about asking who it was, but immediately decide against it since I'd rather not discuss last night's events.

I'm too tired to want breakfast, but I go ahead and sit at the table with the others anyway. I take an empty seat across from Keroro. The sergeant still looks half asleep but he smiles at me and says, "Good morning, Sergeant Major Kululu." I nod to acknowledge him, but otherwise don't say anything.

I feel a tap on my shoulder and look up to see Dororo.

"Are you okay?" he asks, "You have a black eye."

Do I? I didn't know that.

"Yeah, and you have a big lump and a bruise here," Keroro points out, reaching over and gently brushing his fingertips against my temple where Giroro's bottle hit me.

I push his hand aside and say, "I'm fine. I got up last night and tripped." _Wow, that's the best I could come up with?_ I have the feeling that none of them believe me, but thankfully, they don't pursue the subject.

Giroro doesn't show up until everyone else is nearly finished eating. I don't even hear him come into the kitchen, but he makes his presence known by grabbing onto my arm and yanking me up from my chair. Once I'm standing, he roughly pulls me into the hallway with him and shuts the living room door.

"Kululu, please tell me that you didn't say anything to the others about last night," he says urgently the second we're alone.

"I'm not stupid, corporal," I reply. "Of course I didn't."

Relief floods his pale face. "Thank god...," he mutters. "I don't really want anyone to know."

"Corporal, anyone within a five mile radius of you knows that you've been drinking. You absolutely reek of booze."

He rolls his eyes and says, "Well, maybe, but I don't think Keroro or Tamama or any of the Hinatas have noticed. Dororo might have, but I don't think the others did."

He's right. I'm starting to get an idea of who cleaned up last night's mess...

I observe Giroro for a few moments, then ask, "Corporal, do you remember any of last night?"

"Mostly, I guess."

"Then you remember me asking you why you're suddenly an alcoholic?"

" _Yes_ ," he replies shortly. I can see that he's getting irritated. God, I hope he doesn't hit me again.

"Is it really necessary?"

"Yes, it is."

"You never felt the need to drink before, though. So what's your deal? Is it because she had her first kid or something?"

Giroro closes his eyes briefly, then says, "You just don't understand."

 _Oh, really?_

"Would you care to explain it, then?" I ask.

Giroro looks me up and down, thinks for a moment, and then says, "No."

A few awkward moments pass. "You look terrible," I tell him. "Terrible" is kind of an understatement. He's pallid, tired, nauseous-looking, and has dark circles under his eyes and liquor stains from last night down the front of his shirt. Everything about him just screams misery.

"You do too, actually," he mutters, his eyes flicking across my bruised face.

"And whose fault is that?"

He looks away and sighs. "Kululu, I'm..." He makes eye contact once more and shakes his head. "Just please don't say anything to the others."

"Whatever," I reply. I feel him put a hand on my shoulder.

At his touch, I suddenly get an inexplicable urge to say something that's important or emotional or maybe even just awful to him, but all that ends up coming out is, "... You should take a shower." This isn't the profound thing I'd had in mind, though it _is_ true; he smells strongly of alcohol and stale sweat.

"Yeah, I think you're right." He takes his hand from my shoulder and starts up the stairs. I turn to leave, but he calls me back.

"Kululu?"

"Hm?"

"Thank you."

* * *

When I go back to the kitchen, the others look up and ask what the corporal wanted. I just shrug and stay silent, returning to my seat.

Tamama leaves to do his morning run shortly after I come back, and a little after that Keroro goes to do whatever it is he occupies himself with during the day, leaving just Dororo and me.

The lance corporal stays quiet for a while, but eventually speaks up.

"What did Giroro want?"

Obviously I can't tell him. I consider thinking of an excuse, but ultimately I just don't reply again.

Dororo sits down across from me. "... I know that he's been drinking. I got here before anyone else was up this morning and saw the spilled alcohol and broken glass. Not that I didn't already know. I've been able to smell the fumes off him for months."

I close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose, shaking my head. So the corporal was right: Dororo _did_ notice. I suppose that it's truly a miracle that he's the only one who did, but I still feel disappointment that anyone knows at all.

Though, if I think about it, there's no reason for _me_ to care. I'm not the alcoholic. But Giroro didn't want anyone to know, so I guess I didn't either.

"What happened last night?" the lance corporal asks. "Did you guys have a fight?"

"It wasn't a fight. That implies that it was two-sided."

"... I'm sorry. I know that that must have hurt," Dororo says sympathetically.

"It hurt like a bitch actually; he hit me hard."

"That's not what I meant."

"Oh." I feel myself involuntarily blush and I look away. Yes, of course that part of it hurt too. No one _wants_ his love interest to hit him and say that he hates him.

Dororo rises from his chair and starts toward the door. He stops with his hand on the doorknob and turns back around, saying, "You know, if you ever need to talk... I'm here."

I nod, even though I know I never will. While it's a nice offer, I'm not really the kind of person to discuss my problems with other people.

Dororo smiles briefly and then leaves.

I stay in my seat alone at the table for a while. I want to sleep, but now that I'm up I feel obligated to just stay awake.

I eventually stand and go back to my room. I'm not sure if I'll go back to sleep or not. I guess I'll decide when I get there.


	4. 4

**Thank you for all the views, my loyal subjects! (forreal tho, I checked before I went to Chili's and when I got back and checked again, it had 16 more views than before I left!)**

 **Ah, and thank you again to SoulessAlpha, you leave such lovely reviews :D And I feel ya. I love KuluGiro, too. (I have heard of Glasses and a Red Scar, actually :3)**

 **Sorry that this chapter is kinda trippy, just go with the flow, my dudes. (The next chapter will be really good, so get yer thirst caps on, all ye KuluGiro lovers) (prolly upload that tomorrow)  
**

* * *

Keroro is crying.

Tamama is crying.

Dororo is crying.

Giroro is crying.

So am I.

 _cry-_

 _verb_

 _1\. to shed tears, especially as an expression of distress or pain._

"Giroro, please!" Keroro shouts shrilly, pounding on the door.

"Don't do it! We can work this out!" Tamama pleads.

"Please, _we can help you!_ " Dororo yells.

We hear him cock his weapon. The others dissolve into hysterics at the sound and I scream, " _Corporal, for god's sake!_ " In doing this, I spill my coffee.

 _plead-_

 _verb_

 _1\. to make an emotional appeal._

The corporal shouts unintelligible things back at us before going silent, and then-

*BANG!*

 _suicide-_

 _noun_

 _1\. the act of taking one's own life voluntarily and intentionally._

I sit back on my heels, before drawing my knees up to my chest.

Keroro isn't crying anymore, but he has his forehead resting against the door and is muttering, " _No, no, no, no, no...,_ " over and over again to himself. His nose starts bleeding and he falls silent.

Tamama and Dororo are now absent, but I have the feeling that they've gone to murder the Hinatas. Well, that _is_ what we had discussed.

I flick my cigarette butt away and put my head between my knees, wrapping my arms around my legs. I'm soaking wet, as though I've just been swimming, and I wonder why. Maybe it's because I can't stop crying.

I can't stop crying. I can't stop. I can't stop. I can't stop.

I'm drowning.

I can't stop crying.

I'm drowning and I can't stop crying and I can hear the song, " _I Heard It Through The Grapevine_ " by Marvin Gaye playing somewhere nearby.

I'm drowning.

I can't stop crying.

I'm drowning.

I can't stop crying.

My head feels like it'll explode if I don't do something. I lift my face and see that my lap is covered in red paint. Or maybe blood.

No, it can't be blood, because it's turned blue. My blood isn't blue.

Red.

Blue.

Red.

Blue.

I suddenly find rosary beads in my pocket. Perhaps my mother put them there; she had been religious.

Yes, she's coming down the church pews now; I'll ask her. There's a bruise on her forehead, right below her hairline. It's a gorgeous shade of red.

Blue.

Red.

Blue.

"Mom...," I start, but my throat seems to have closed and I can't say more than that. She puts a finger to her lips. Hush, son. We have to listen to the sermon now.

God.

The priest is talking about God.

God.

God.

God, I hate being here. Why does she always drag me along every Sunday?

I strike a match. I immediately forget why.

"Mom...," I begin again. She shushes me and pinches the flame out with her thumb and forefinger.

God, I hate being here.

The priest calls someone up. It's Giroro. There's a bullet hole in his forehead but otherwise he seems to be fine. No, wait, that's _me_ up by the altar.

There's a hole in _my_ head.

The me up by the priest turns and looks right at me.

My, my, what a dirty look I'm giving myself.  
But why am I looking at myself like this?

What am I gonna do, _kill myself?_

Yup, that's exactly what the me by the alter does. He (I?) accepts a knife from the priest and rams it into his (my?) stomach.

Well, I guess that's just the way it goes.

It's raining inside the church (which I now see isn't even a church at all, it's the maternity ward of a hospital).

My mother suddenly turns to me and says, " _Really_ , Kululu?"

"It's not _my_ fault." I say this even though I don't know what she's referring to. Just in case.

"You broke the kitchen window! Your father's going to be so angry..."

Actually that _was_ my fault.

Yes, I broke it. No, I don't feel sorry. I don't care that dad is going to get mad at me. As far as I'm concerned, he can just piss off.

God.

God, I hate being here.

 _Luckily, the sermon is almost over._

No, it's just begun.

 _It's over. People are leaving._

The priest only just started talking.

God, I hate being here.

The rosary beads that I'm holding are wooden, though I could have sworn that they were silver a second ago...

"Mom!" She's not listening.

The pressure in my head is intense.

" _Mom!_ "

I twist that damn strand of beads around my neck and squeeze until I feel my throat burst and I wake up to the sound of the lance corporal saying my name.


	5. 5

**Mmhm. This is a spicy chapter.**

 **Be sure to leave a review, and enjoy! PM me with any questions~  
**

* * *

"Kululu? Kululu!"

"What?" I scramble around for my glasses and put them on.

"Are you okay?" Dororo asks, putting his hand on my arm.

I think of my horrible dream that I just had. "Yeah, I'm fine," I lie, shaking his hand off of me. "Why?"

"You were screaming."

"... Was I?" My clothes are sticking to me with sweat.

"Yes. We could hear you from down the hall. Keroro sent me to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine," I tell him again. "I just had a nightmare."

"Okay," Dororo responds, turning to leave. "I'll let the others know."

"... Lance corporal?" I ask, and he turns around.

"Yes?"

"Where's Giroro?"

Dororo crosses his arms and thinks for a moment. "I think he said he was going out... but I don't know where."

"Okay. Thanks."

He nods and leaves the room.

I get up from my chair and go upstairs to the living room. Saburo is seated on the couch, holding his son and crooning to him.

"Hey, Kululu," Saburo says to me.

"Hey," I reply, sitting next to him.

He observes me for a moment, then asks, "Are you okay? You seem distracted."

"I'm fine. I'm just tired." I glance around at the boxes everywhere. "You guys leaving?"

"Yeah, we've just found a nice little apartment, and we're going to move in on Friday," Saburo replies. He gestures to the child on his lap. "Now that he's sleeping through the night, we don't really need help anymore."

Yasuo reaches over and grabs my sleeve. I look down at him.

He looks happy, with his little rosy cheeks and big smile.  
There's drool slobbered down his chin.

He babbles something at me and I put my hand out to him. He immediately seizes it, laughing like an idiot.

I stay with Saburo and his baby for a while, but eventually get up and go outside.

The sky is gray and a little rain is falling. I sit down on one of the cinder blocks near the corporal's tent (which is almost always vacant nowadays).

The rain starts coming down harder, pattering on my head. I shiver slightly. Really, it's too cold to stay outside; but I do anyway.

I hear someone walk up and open the front gate. When I turn around, I see Giroro.

He's holding a bag in one arm. It looks like he has been at the store.  
He glances at me before heading inside.

I stay where I am, but after a few minutes, Giroro pops back outside and says, "Come on, I can't wait all day." He gestures to follow him before going inside. I stand up and go in.

"Look in the bag," the corporal orders.

I cross to the kitchen counter where the bag sits and peer into it. I see chicken, coconut milk, onions, carrots, bell peppers, spices...  
All the ingredients, in short, for-

"Curry," I say, looking up at him.

He nods. "I noticed that you hadn't made it in a while, and thought it might be nice since it's so cold out."

He really went out and got stuff for curry for me?

Interesting. But what's the catch?

Perhaps he misread my silence, because after a few moments, he says, "I'll help you make it, if you want."

Actually, I don't mind making curry on my own. I've done it plenty of times before, I can do it again. But I _do_ like being around the corporal, so I shrug and say, "Okay."

* * *

I'm having a _lovely_ time teaching the corporal how to make my favorite dish and standing over a hot stove with him... right up until I realize that this is probably just his way of trying to apologize for his drunken rage the other night, rather than a way to bring us closer.  
There it is. _That's_ the catch.

That son of a bitch.

It's my own fault for actually believing that he wanted to spend time with me.

* * *

The curry cooks for a little over an hour, filling the house with its mouthwatering perfume. When it's finished, we call the others to the table and sit down to eat it.

As we're eating, I find myself getting steadily angrier and angrier at the corporal. I'm not even sure why. At first I thought it was because of the possibility that he only did all this so as to not feel guilty, but I'm way too infuriated for that to be the only reason. The curry is delicious, of course, and that makes me feel even angrier.

Why then? He's done nothing to me. Although, I suppose, drunkenly attacking and screaming at someone isn't exactly _nothing_. But I was never really mad about that.

Well, whether I exactly know the reason, I _do_ know that I am seriously pissed at the corporal.

I don't get angry that often. When I do, I avoid confrontation and don't display my anger to anyone. That's not what I want do today, however.

I wait, still seething, for a few hours until the others have all gone to bed. It's hard to wait, but for some reason, I don't want anyone else around when I unleash my rage at him.

Finally, I'm able to join him in the kitchen. He's sitting at the table, holding a glass. He's not quite drunk yet, but there are red patches high on his cheekbones and he looks much more relaxed than usual. His eyes are closed and he's resting his chin on his hand.

I sit across from him, trying to decide how best to voice my anger. I can't figure out how to say it, though. Maybe because I'm not even sure what I'm mad about.

"Today was nice, sergeant major," he says without looking up.

" _Shut up!_ " I snap suddenly, ignoring his comment.

He lowers his hand and opens his eyes, frowning slightly at me. He cocks his head and asks, "What?"

"I said 'shut up'!" I rise from my seat. This feels kind of immature and stupid, and a little blush creeps up on my face.

"What's wrong with you?" he inquires bemusedly. Dammit, this is not the reaction I'd been going for. I'm not angering him, I'm confusing him. I guess that's because I never raise my voice at anyone, angry or not.

I want him to be as angry as I am, because somehow this whole thing will feel pointless if he's not, so I resort to insults to try and get a rise out of him, but nothing seems to be working. He just stares at me the entire time, puzzled, no matter what I say. This only seems to be making _me_ angry.

Oh, sure, Giroro, the _one time_ I actually _want_ you to be mad at me and you're just sitting there with that stupid expression on your face!

I run out of names to call him and insecurities to attack pretty quickly, and when I fall silent, he asks, "Kululu, come on, what are you doing?"

 _Why_ , corporal, _why_ do you have to ask the one question I don't know the answer to?

"I... just...," I sputter. " _Oh, screw you!_ "

He stares at me for a moment, then rises and and walks around the table to where I stand. Leaning against the table, he squints at me, and then says, "You're acting like a total moron, you know."

" _I'm not the one who's been drinking himself to death every night for the past four months!_ " I say through my teeth. Once I hear myself say this, I realize exactly why I'm mad. All of my anger at him for being an idiot these past months that I'd been bottling up is suddenly bubbling out now.

"Oh, is that why you're angry?" he asks, raising an eyebrow at me.  
It doesn't even really sound like a _question_. It's more like a challenge. "Because of my drinking?"

The nonchalant way he's talking about it... it's like he doesn't even care! Does this man care about anything? Oh, my god! It's like he thinks he can just do whatever the fuck he wants! Arrogant bastard...

I feel myself start shaking, adrenaline coursing through my body. I never lose control like this, and it's nearly dizzying to feel rage so strong when I'm not used to it. Suddenly, I ball my hands into fists and I start hitting him.

He's caught off-guard and has no time to defend, so I pound every inch of him that I can reach, hissing insults all the while. He's much stronger than me though, and after a few seconds is able to fend me off.

He grabs ahold of my wrists, and though I continue to struggle, it effectively stops me.

"What the hell is your problem?!" he yells.

I yank away from him. He assumes a defensive position, but I don't feel like hitting him anymore. In fact, I can feel my sudden energy and anger starting to drain away, leaving me feeling lethargic. I glance down.

"Kululu!"

I don't respond.

" _Kululu!_ "

"What?"

" _What the hell is your problem?!_ " he repeats.

I look back up. There are red marks all over his face and chest where I beat him.

I don't answer for a while. But then, I simply say, "I don't know." This is perfectly true. I don't know what brought this on so suddenly.

"Oh, you don't know. _You don't know_."

"Not really."

"Oh my god...," he mutters tiredly, pinching the bridge of his nose in a somehow very attractive way. "You're insane..."

As I watch him shake his head irritatedly, a feeling floods my body. But it isn't anger.

He seems to have noticed that something changed, because his frustrated expression switches to a wary one.

"Kululu?"

I get a sudden urge to do something, but I know it'll have repercussions.

"What's wrong?"

I stay silent, bracing myself for what I'm about to do.

"Kululu!" he puts his hands on my shoulders. "Are you okay?"

If I can actually make myself just do it, this should be pretty awesome.

"Hey, look at me! What's the matter?" he gives me a little shake.

I throw my arms around his neck and press my lips against his. He roughly pushes me away, spitting like an angry cat.

He takes a few steps backwards and shouts, " _WHAT THE HELL?!_ " His face is a bright cherry red. I see that his gun is now in his hand. He must have pulled it out reflexively when I 'attacked' him.

I laugh, because I know how strange this must all have been to the corporal. And honestly, it was strange to me too. But I feel happy.

" _What's wrong with you?!_ " he demands, going even redder in the face.

I smile at him, and then shrug.

"Good night, corporal."

* * *

 **I know that sometimes people ask for what songs the author was listening to while writing a story, so I'll go ahead and list my top 3 songs I listened to, for anyone who's curious~**

 **1\. Oingo Boingo - Wild Sex (In The Working Class)**

 **2\. Type O Negative - Summer Girl**

 **3\. Mother Mother - The Drugs**


	6. 6

**Thank you to the unnamed 'Guest' who left a nice review on the last chapter, I really appreciate it :) (ah, yes, and I'm with you, SoulessAlpha, this ship shall sail!) This next chapter contains a little cringe-y moment, but power through it, people! It's worth it ^^**

* * *

I have a strange sense of pride and triumph for a few days after kissing Giroro. I suppose this is because I successfully forced myself to do something I've wanted to do for years.

The corporal seems... less elated.

Normally, I wouldn't care that much about how he feels, but it's different this time. His stress seems like it's affecting me, and my euphoric mood lasts only a little while before it is replaced by an irritated and tired one.

I also start to feel slightly guilty at the thought of the corporal, because I know that his discomfort is largely my fault. I don't like the guilt. I'm not used to it; I never feel guilty, even when I've done something worse than just catching a colleague off-guard with a kiss.

Giroro looks awful nowadays. He's drawn and pale. He's losing weight. He always smells like alcohol and he's clearly miserable.

I want to talk to him, or be around him, or be able to look at him, but I feel like I can't. I feel like he doesn't want me to.

* * *

I don't mind the cold weather. It's warm in the house and relatively warm in the base, so I barely even notice when it's cold out.

But near the end of November, it starts snowing. It started off as just a light dusting here and there, but by now it's developed into frequent snowstorms. When it snows, it's a little too cold for comfort down in the base, so I largely relocate upstairs to the house where it's less drafty.

Seems like I'm not the only one who had this idea. Giroro is upstairs a lot too. I guess it must be too cold in the base for him as well.

* * *

On a particularly freezing morning, Keroro, Tamama, and I are sitting on the couch, drinking tea and talking. Well, _they're_ talking and I'm pretending to listen.

As Keroro and the private drone on and on, Giroro walks in and gets an aspirin out of the cupboard. It's the first time I've seen him today, and it's almost comical how awful he looks. Almost.

He sits down on my left and crosses his legs.

Huh. He voluntarily came to me. Maybe I was wrong in assuming that he wanted nothing to do with me.

Ah, but I'm sure I'm just getting carried away. All he did was sit next to me.

Judging by the aspirin and the way he's squinting as though the light is hurting his eyes, I'd say he's badly hungover. Going by the scent of alcohol on his breath, he appears to be intoxicated at the same time.

Oh, corporal.

Keroro stops his chatter, carefully observing Giroro. There's a slight crease between his eyebrows.

"Giroro? Are you feeling okay?" he asks.

The corporal shoots him an irritated look but says nothing.

"Are you... _hungover_?" Keroro inquires perplexedly.

"Piss off."

"Wha-" The sergeant looks shocked and offended. "Who the hell do you think you're talking to, mister?!"

" _Keroro_...," Giroro says warningly, glaring at him.

"No! I don't want to have to deal with your attitude right now, corporal!"

" _Please stop_ , geez, you're so loud..."

Keroro looks like he wants to continue arguing, but after a few moments he sighs dramatically and asks, "Well, do you want some water or something?"

Giroro mutters, "No, I just..." before groaning and rubbing his temples.

"I'm getting you water," Keroro says firmly, standing up.

It's hard to tell if the fluids help or not, but at least now Giroro won't be too dehydrated. He starting to look a little queasy, though.

Keroro casts a worried look at the corporal, who is now sitting with a hand to his forehead, before turning to me.

"Ugh, I don't even remember what we were talking about now!" He rolls his eyes and says, "Hand me the remote, I'll just put something on."

The remote is on the other side of Giroro, so I have to stretch across his lap to get it (he doesn't even seem to notice).

Unfortunately, as I do this, the corporal suddenly convulses and I feel something splatter on my back.

I freeze with my hand on the remote, shocked. Perhaps I should have moved, though, because Giroro retches again and more vomit spills from his mouth onto me.

I sit back up and look at him. He looks horrified.

He gives his head a little shake. "Oh, my god, Kululu... I-I'm so sorry. _Oh, my god..._ I-"

"Sergeant major," Keroro cuts in. I turn to him. He's wearing an expression of utmost disgust and Tamama looks like he might be sick himself.  
"We'll clean this up here, you just..." He shudders, then orders, "Go take a shower."

I nod slowly, and stand up.

I grab a clean pair of pants and a shirt from the dryer before heading upstairs. Once I'm in the bathroom, I strip down, putting my vomit-covered clothes in the hamper. They smell terrible, a mixture of putrid alcohol and bile.

I turn on the water and get in the shower.

While I stand there, letting the hot water pour over my body, I let my mind wander to the corporal.

I reason that any normal person would be livid if a colleague got drunk and threw up on him. Though, of course, I'm not exactly a normal person and Giroro isn't exactly just a co-worker. Eventually, I come to the conclusion that I don't care.

Apparently I'll like the corporal no matter what he does.

I pour soap on my head and wash my hair, then use some of it to clean my body. I don't have my own soap; I always just use whatever's there.  
Going by the flowery scent, today I've just used Aki's shampoo.

I rinse the suds away and get out. I don't bother to dry off first before redressing and heading back downstairs.

* * *

Giroro determinedly avoids eye contact with me when I re-enter the livingroom. His cheeks are bright red and he looks completely mortified.

I sit down on the couch across from him. We sit in silence for a few moments, before he attempts to say something. No words come out the first time, just a strange choked sound. He clears his throat, and tries again. "Kululu...?"

"Hmm?"

"I, uh..." He cuts off, looking at a loss for words. This is clearly a very awkward situation for him.

Out of habit and without seeing any real humor, I chuckle.

He finally looks up at me. There's a look that almost resembles fear in his eyes.

"Listen, corporal," I say. "This isn't that big of a deal."

"But-"

"Don't worry about it," I tell him dismissively, looking down at my hands in my lap.

When Giroro remains silent, I glance back up at him. He looks a little puzzled. "What do you mean, 'don't worry about it'?" he asks.

I shake my head and answer, "I mean _don't worry about it_. I don't really care."

"Someone pukes all over you and you don't even care?"

"Not _someone_. You."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I shrug, grinning at him. Giroro doesn't say anything, but he stares at me with a penetrating, thoughtful look.

I hold eye contact with him. My clothes are sticking to my still-wet body and it's distracting me a little.

While I look at him, I notice with a feeling like disappointment in myself just _how_ attracted I am to his features. And it's _always_ been like that, too.  
I can remember thinking that he was cute back when we first met. It's a little ridiculous, but even in his current pathetic state he still looks good to me.

I wonder what he's thinking about. But minutes pass and he doesn't say a word. Eventually, I can't stand it anymore and have to know what he's doing.

"... What?"

He pulls his gun out of his holster. I raise my eyebrows a little. Is he going to shoot me?

No, he's being careful to aim it away from my body, so that probably isn't his intent.

He holds it up and asks, "When was the last time you handled a firearm?"

The last time I handled a firearm? How the hell did he get to that from the topic of puking on me?

It's certainly been a while. I look away and shrug again.

"Probably not since basic training, huh?"

Yes, I think that was the last time I shot a gun. "Yeah, I never really..."

"You remember how?"

I glance back up at him, and give another noncommittal shrug. I'm smart, so I could probably figure it out if I had to (though I'm not sure how accurate my shots would be).

"Do you want me to teach you?"

I laugh. Is that what he was thinking about all that time?

"Okay," I reply. Honestly, I couldn't care less about shooting. It's just not really my thing. But when the class is being led by a handsome instructor...

He nods and re-holsters his weapon. "I don't really feel up to it today, but we can do it tomorrow morning, okay?"

"Yeah."

* * *

 **Hm. Sometimes I feel sorry for the shit I put Kululu through. But then I read the later chapters and decide that it's all worth it c:**


	7. 7

**Behold! Another chapter! A little later than I normally upload, but, hey, I still got one up today ^^**

 **Also, a note, in case you've been wondering how I upload so fast, it's because I already have the first 14 chapters written. So, every day, my sister and I give them a last lookover and change any final things (I have done so many hours of editing for this fic, you have no idea...), and then I upload it.  
So far I have the first seven up, and I plan to upload the next 3-4 over the next couple of days, and then I'll start uploading them more slowly so I can have time to catch up. I'm trying really hard to make it so that you guys don't have to wait too long to read the next chapters :) **

**Oh, and one more thing; in case you were thinking about abandoning this fic today, I wouldn't if I were you. The next chapter is a good one ;P**

 **As always, PM me with questions, and be sure to leave a review! (getting that email that says that there's been a new review for the fic is, like, the highlight of my day :D)**

* * *

"Hey," he says as he walks in. "You ready?"

"Yes, corporal."

"Good."

We're standing in the shooting range in the base, which, as per usual, is otherwise empty. Giroro is the only one who uses it; the others (myself included) have no real interest in weapons.

He pulls out his gun and sets it on the table along with two pairs of earmuffs.

"Okay." He turns to me. "How much do you remember? Where should I start?"

I hesitate, then answer, "Start at the beginning."

"Alright." Giroro puts the gun in my hands and shows me how to hold it properly. "Right hand underneath, gripping the gun high on the backstrap. Left hand on top, pressed firmly against the exposed portion of the grip."

Yes, I can do that.

"Let me see your stance," he tells me.

My stance? I'm just standing like I always do: slouched, my knees together, my head ducked.

"Here, stand like this." The corporal demonstrates and I imitate him.

"Good. Wait, no, your legs are still too close together." He uses his foot to separate my legs and instructs that I bend my knees slightly. It will help me fire the gun with more stability, he says.

He's very close to me and I notice that the usual fumes of alcohol that always linger around him are absent. "Not drinking today, huh?"

"What makes you say that?" he asks, breaking eye contact.

"You don't really smell like booze."

"... It isn't safe to handle a firearm while intoxicated," he mutters without looking up. "... And please don't _smell me_..."

My god, he's so cute.

There's a few second's silence before he continues, "Now, just raise the weapon toward the target and line up the sights." I do as he tells me and notice that my arms are a little shaky.

"When you fire it," he adds, "don't 'pull' the trigger. It's better to squeeze it."

It's a little hard for me to line up the sights; my eyesight is horrible, even with my glasses. I manage, though, and I'm just about to "squeeze the trigger, don't pull it", when he says, "One more thing."  
He tugs off my hat and my headphones and snaps a pair of earmuffs around my head, cancelling out all sound.

As it turns out, I am a terrible shot. I got better as I practiced more, but I'm clearly no sharpshooter.

I'm glad we did this, anyway, though.

* * *

It's Aki's day off today, so Natsumi and Saburo bring their baby to our house so they can see their grandmother.

My other platoon members and I are in the livingroom when they arrive.

The moment Natsumi walks through the door, Giroro stands, presumably to go down to the base and avoid her.

I scoff, and the corporal asks, "What?"

"Running away again, old man?"

He raises his eyebrows and appears to be on the verge of replying for a few seconds, but he eventually just sits back down next to me.

Natsumi walks in carrying Yasuo. "Hi, Giroro!" she says brightly. "Hey, Kululu!" Her baby waves his arms and smiles vaguely.

She asks if I want to hold Yasuo. I shrug because I don't really want to, but to say, "I do not want to hold your kid," to a bitch like her is suicide. She plops her son in my lap. _Great_.

Natsumi grins and starts making conversation with Giroro. I hold the child awkwardly, unsure of really what to do. I don't like infants, and as a result am not very comfortable handling them.

Yasuo must have sensed my lack of confidence because he soon starts to cry.

"Uhh..." I look up at Natsumi.

"Oh, poor baby, here, I'll take him," she says, reaching over as her son continues wailing. She picks him up. "It's okay, Yasu-" She cuts off. "Oh..." There are two dark spots forming on her shirt over her breasts. "Shit...," she mutters under her breath, hurriedly covering her chest with her hands. "Saburo?" she calls.

"Yeah?" he answers.

"Can you come take Yasuo while I change? I'm leaking..."

I feel a pang of irritation. Not because her breasts let-down, I know that she can't help that.

But because I know how Giroro's going to react. He's going to get all embarrassed and start blushing and sputtering and acting like a fool at the sight of her wet shirt. I don't even want to look at him at first. But when I finally do, I am surprised to see that he's not acting at all how I thought he would.

In fact, he's not even looking at Natsumi. He's looking at me.

I push my glasses higher up on the bridge of my nose and turn my gaze downward. When I look back up, he's still staring at me, so I say, "What are you looking at?"

"What?" he says. "Oh." He gives his head a little shake and looks down. "Um, nothing."

* * *

Natsumi and Saburo stay for as long as they can, but soon it's apparent that their son is just too tired and fussy so they decide to take him home.

Once they've left, I return to the base and set about repairing one of my old inventions that got damaged however many years ago. I don't even really remember or care what it does, but Keroro wants it fixed so I guess I'm doing it.

Apparently I won't have to do it alone, though. Giroro followed me down and now sits on the floor of my room with me, cleaning his weapons.

I appreciate his company but also wonder what the hell he thinks he's doing.

Giroro doesn't like me. He doesn't. He's always trying to avoid me and he never seems to want to talk to me or be more than just 'workplace associates'. In fact, I can count on one hand the number of times he's visited me down in my room (and even those times it was because he specifically wanted something).

 _So what the hell?_

I consider asking him, but don't. I wouldn't want him to be irritated at me or anything.

The scent of the gun cleaner he's using fills the room. It burns my nose and makes me a little lightheaded, but it somehow isn't an unpleasant smell. Probably because over the years I've come to associate it with Giroro. Otherwise, I suppose I would hate it.

Inevitably, it seems, Giroro eventually starts drinking from his flask.  
The vapors mix with the fumes from the gun cleaner. I'm not sure why, but smelling the two scents together like that gives me a feeling of what I can only describe as melancholy.

 _God, I wish he'd just quit drinking._

I guess I must have been making a face, because the corporal glares over at me and asks, "What?"

"Hmm." I don't look up at him.

"Screw off," he tells me. I suppose he guessed what I'd been thinking.

"I wasn't even going to say anything," I reply, still holding my gaze down.

"But you were thinking it." He replaces his flask in his inner coat pocket. "Stop-bringing-it-up!"

 _Well, excu-use me, corporal._

"Sorry that I was getting in the way of your alcoholism," I mutter.

He rolls his eyes but doesn't respond. A few minutes pass, and he very quietly says, "I'm not an alcoholic."

I snort.

"You know what?" he asks. "You're a real ungrateful son of a bitch."

I don't reply, mostly because I'm not sure what he's referring to.

"Stop ducking your head and look at me, dammit."

I chuckle grimly and after a moment, make eye contact again.

Giroro glowers at me for a few seconds but never actually says anything. He exhales deeply through his nose before dropping his gaze and continuing to clean his weapons.

"Sorry."

* * *

 **I have after author notes this time!**

 **First, to those who haven't heard the term before, 'breast let-down' is not when your boobs disappoint you in some way, but is in fact when a mother's breasts fill with milk as a response to being suckled on by the baby (or, like in poor Natsumi's case here, the reflex can be triggered by something as simple as hearing your baby cry or thinking about your baby).**

 **Second, when Kululu thinks "Well, excu-use me, corporal" to himself, that is indeed a nod to how in those dumb Zelda cartoons Link says "Well, excu-use me, princess!" (in case you were wondering~)**

 **And lastly, a funny anecdote to warm your soul.  
Okay, a few weeks ago my friends were over and somehow we got on the topic of my fanfiction. I was showing them a couple chapters and everything, and then I was telling one of them about this chapter. She doesn't really know the show or anything, but she says, "You know what will really spice up this whole 'learning to shoot a gun' thing?" and I ask what and she leans in reeeaal close and says, "Have Giroro whisper into Kululu's ear, ' _Shoot me with that gun, daddy~!_ '"  
** **¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
(She made me promise that I'd put that in the author's notes. I love her, but she's a little weird hahha)  
**

 **Okay, that's all! Look forward to a very good chapter tomorrow!**


	8. 8

**hah**

 **hhaa**

 **hahahaha**

 **My death metal and 80s hits fueled chapter can finally be uploaded. _Ex-cell-ent~!_**

 **This is probably my favorite chapter so far. Very juicy. And it only gets better from here, so be prepared, ladies and gentlemen!**

* * *

For someone who is so stupid, Keroro certainly talks a lot.

In fact, he's been talking almost non-stop since Aki left for work this morning, and she's supposed to get home in less than thirty minutes.

That's over fourteen hours of near-constant chatter.

It's just the three of us (Keroro, Giroro, and me) in the kitchen right now, because it's late and Tamama and Dororo have already gone home.

Actually, I'm not sure why the corporal and I are still up. Keroro had to finish his chores that he so unwisely procrastinated, but there's no real reason for the two of us to be here.

I guess we're probably waiting up for Aki or maybe staying up with Keroro while he does the dishes or something like that. I guess it doesn't really matter, I don't care a whole lot anyway. I am tired, though...

I'm sitting on the kitchen counter, nearly falling asleep while Keroro talks animatedly to Giroro about something that I'm sure if I cared to listen to I would find to be thoroughly dim-witted.

Keroro finishes washing the dishes and bids us goodnight before leaving the room and heading to bed.

 _Now, we'll go to bed...,_ I think.

Yet still, Giroro doesn't leave the kitchen. So I don't either.

What's he waiting for? He's definitely waiting for something, that much I can see. But what?

Oh, my god, I'm so tired. My eyes burn and I feel a little shivery. It's clear that the corporal is, too. He looks as exhausted as I feel.

Giroro stretches his arms up, yawning, and I see his shirt ride up his body.

I shamelessly stare at the exposed portion of his stomach until it's covered again, at which point I decide that he'll just have to stay up waiting for whatever it is he's waiting for on his own, and I hop down off the counter.

I say, "Goodnight, corporal," and start towards the door.

"Wait."

I turn around. He's sitting at the table, his eyes trained on the clock on the wall. His fingers drum endlessly on the wooden tabletop and he's bouncing one of his legs.

After several seconds of his not saying anything further, I wander back closer and ask, "What is it?"

"Aki gets home soon... I'm going to take her motorcycle up to the liquor store," he tells me.

"Sounds nice."

"I was wondering if you'd come with me."

My eyebrows raise briefly but I quickly lower them again.  
I shrug. "Yeah," I say. "Okay."

* * *

Giroro swings his leg over the side of Aki's motorcycle (which she was more than happy to lend to us) and starts the engine.

I get on behind him, but when he says, "Hold on," I hesitate.

Hold on to what?

I cautiously place a hand on either side of his waist, and when he doesn't protest, I scoot forward a little and get a firmer grip. I'm a little surprised that he doesn't have a problem with my holding onto him like this.

"Okay, here we go."

The frigid night air whips around my clothes and makes my face feel numb as we speed along the near-deserted streets.

Suddenly, it occurs to me that Giroro might not actually really know how to ride a motorcycle.

Well, he was able to get us going and hasn't crashed us yet, so I suppose he _can_ drive one, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he _should_.

The road is shiny from rain earlier today. It crosses my mind that the slickness of the pavement will pose a risk, but it doesn't seem to be giving Giroro extra difficulty so I don't really think about it any further.

* * *

In total, we're in the tired and musty 24-hour liquor shop for less than five minutes.

While we walk back through the empty parking lot, Giroro's glass bottles clinking merrily in the bag he's carrying, I notice that the corporal's expression is oddly anxious. I assume that it's probably because he hasn't had a drink in a while and that it's making him edgy.

But soon it's clear that that isn't why. His expression has a distinct quality of hesitance. It looks like he's teetering on the edge of saying something.

"I... uh... need to talk to you about something, Kululu," he says, leaning against Aki's bike.

"Alright."

"You know how... have you... um..." I smirk because Giroro looks so uncomfortable now and it's kind of funny. He takes a deep breath. "Why do you think that I started drinking?"

"You mean why do I think you're an alcoholic?" I ask, knowing he doesn't like using that word to describe himself.

He rolls his eyes at me, but nods.

"Well, it isn't like it's some kind of secret, everyone knows why," I say with a shrug.

"Tell me." He breaks the seal on one of the bottles he just bought.

I roll my eyes. "Natsumi is married to Saburo. She just had her first kid with him. They're a _couple_. She's... not with you." I'm startled to hear how judgemental my voice sounds. I make a mental note to try and tone my criticism down because (as I'm constantly having to remind myself) it's none of my business and I shouldn't care either way.

Giroro upends the bottle, nodding. He's already drained at least a fourth of its contents by now. That's impressive.

"No," he says suddenly.

I frown. "... No?"

"Yeah. _No_. That isn't why."

I stay silent, waiting for him to give some kind of further explanation.

He briefly makes eye contact and then looks away again. Obviously he can't stand looking at me while he does this.

"Okay, so..." He moistens his bottom lip. "I, uh, don't..."

"Don't?" I prompt.

"I don't... love her."

"Love who?"

"Natsumi," he confirms. "I don't love Natsumi." His voice has a hollow, dead sound to it.

I don't say anything. I just stare at him, puzzled, my mind still processing what he said.

"I don't even think I ever did," he adds, tipping the bottle upwards again.

Why is he telling me this? He's got to be kidding.

Giroro loves Natsumi. That's always been a solid, unwavering fact. Up til now, it was just something we'd all come to accept as something that was never going to change.

And now, he's saying that he doesn't love her, and maybe even never did? It seems impossible that he's serious. But he doesn't look like he's joking.

I continue to stay silent. I'm too stunned and confused to ask any questions, and I think it's better for him to explain this on his own time without my prying anyway. I focus on the stars that shine from behind the thick gray clouds in the dark sky.

A few minutes pass before he speaks again.

"Kululu...," he says in a slightly trembling voice that has begun to get thick from the alcohol. "It feels like... it feels like my entire purpose in life..." He hiccups. "... is gone..."

"Well, I'm truly _honored_ that you chose to confide in me, my dear," I say sarcastically.

He turns to me and snaps, "Can't you just be serious for one second? Knock it off, this is important!"

"Sorry," I mumble. "It's just that this is, uh, news to me."

Giroro sighs a little and hiccups again, then replies, "Yeah. I'm sure it is. I only just recently... realized, myself..." Over a third the liquid in the bottle is gone now.

"What do you mean?"

"I _mean_ , it's a new idea for me too..." The corporal slowly unbuttons his jacket with one hand, looking to be deep in thought. It's not hot out, but I guess he's getting flushed from the alcohol. "When they got married," he says as he does this, "I realized that I d-didn't even _care_. When Natsumi got pregnant, I _didn't care_. When she h-had Yasuo, _I didn't fucking care_."

I'm a little surprised for a moment that he used that word. It's not like it bothers me to hear it or anything, it's just that he's never said "fuck" before. At least not that I've ever noticed.

"You didn't care?" I inquire.

"I didn't care. It didn't matter to me. I didn't give a shit whether or not she was married to Saburo or pregnant by him or anything. I thought I would, but I d-d-didn't..." His voice is badly shaking now, as is the hand he's gripping the bottle (that's nearly half empty now) with.

I remember that I'm stuck with him as my ride home because I don't have a clue how to drive a motorcycle, so I reach over and take the liquor from him. He doesn't try hard to stop me.

I'd just rather he not be reeling drunk when he takes us home.

"Corporal...," I begin, unsure of what I'm going to say next.

"That's just it!" he exclaims, turning to me. He looks a little bit insane. "I was too preoccupied with being in the military and the invasion and all that shit to even stop and think that, hey, maybe I don't _fucking love her!_ " His voice is rising in volume, echoing in the empty parking lot, and becoming more and more choked-sounding with every word.

I have a deep sense of pity for Giroro. All of this is just awful. He looks so miserable and drunk and close to tears that it's like I'm actually feeling physical pain at the sight of him.

I turn away from him; it's too hard to see him like this. Without really thinking about what I'm doing, I raise the bottle to my lips and drink from it. The alcohol burns my throat and tastes terrible but it spreads a comfortable warmth throughout my body that somehow makes me feel more calm, so I drink from it once more before starting again. "Giroro," I say, carefully calling him by his name rather than his rank this time.

" _All those years..._ ," he mumbles, grabbing onto my shoulders. " _Why was I so goddamn stupid?_ " His fingers clench and he suddenly shouts, " _WHY THE HELL DIDN'T I SEE?!_ "

"Giroro, come on..." I pull away and back up a few steps before looking away. "Can't you just..."

" _No! You idiot!_ _You stupid, emotionless bastard!_ " he yells at me. "Why don't you understand?! I used to think that she was the love of my life! I would have died for her! She was everything, and now-"

I put both my hands on his face and he cuts short. A moment ago, I had things planned out to say to him, but as soon as I touched him my mind went blank. The alcohol is making me feel hazy and I can't remember anything I was going to tell him anymore.

So I don't say anything. He scowls at me but I don't let go. I pull him closer and press our foreheads together. His lip trembles slightly but after a few moments, Giroro's face relaxes slightly and he closes his eyes.

But I don't. I haven't ever gotten a chance to see his face so close-up before and I don't want to miss it. As much as I can, I take in everything about how he looks at this proximity before he suddenly blushes and steps back.

Giroro's a little ( _a lot_ ) wobbly and I know that he shouldn't drive, but when he gets back on the motorcycle and starts it up, I get on behind him anyway.

He swerves in and out of the lanes every now and then, and keeps accidentally running stop signs, but we reach our house without incident, so I guess he can ride a motorcycle okay.

* * *

The breathing of the man lying next to me is deep and rhythmic. He's clearly gone to sleep.

I can't blame Giroro for falling asleep so quickly. It's late, he drank a serious amount of alcohol (much more than me and I'm still feeling a little foggy myself) and _I'm_ exhausted from the sex, so it's likely that he is too.

I twist around to face him. The corporal looks a lot younger in his sleep, and so much less tense than when he's awake. I scoot a little nearer to him, curling into his chest. He's radiating heat and his skin feels sticky with sweat, but I don't mind.

In my left hand, I clutch my glasses, and I use my right to softly rub his back. He stirs a little but doesn't wake up. Good. I like the way he looks better when he's sleeping.

I notice a spot of dirt on his face, so I wet the tip of my finger with my tongue and clean it off. Overall it doesn't make much of a difference because we're both covered in soil anyway. Whatever.

I'm considering rousing him so we can go, since I know neither of us want to be found lying in a post-coital tangle in the lance corporal's garden by one of the others, but I can't bring myself to. Not yet. This is my first and probably last chance to be this physically close to him and I'm fairly certain that if he wakes up he's going to lose his mind. And that'd just kill the mood.

I reach my hand up and stroke his hair, before replacing my glasses on my face so I can see him a little better.

While I'm lying there on the hard ground looking at him, I think to myself that he's the most attractive person I've ever seen.

But why? He looks terrible. Being completely truthful with myself, I can see that. His hair is all greasy from not showering in a few days, his clothes are kind of disheveled, and he's pale from exhaustion underneath the unhealthy flush that alcohol has brought to his cheeks. Not to mention his harsh, overlarge eyes, his oddly-shaped nose, and his poor facial structure. Honestly, he isn't what most people would call handsome. To anyone else, he's probably just about average. But not to me.

Why is that?

What, because I love him? Don't be ridiculous. I honestly don't think I've ever loved _anyone_. Not any of my family members for sure. My dad was a drunken asshole, my mom was overbearing and intolerant, and my brother and sister have never really seemed to like me that much because I'm "too weird".

And I feel fairly certain that I don't love Keroro or Dororo or Tamama, or even Saburo. I don't want anything bad to happen to them, but I can't say that I love them. Giroro is the only one I'm not sure about.

Though, I wonder, is it even possible for someone (especially someone like me) to form a bond like that with a person that they aren't close with emotionally or physically? I don't know. I have very little experience with this topic.

And what if he reciprocated these feelings? That's something I've never even considered.

 _If Giroro loved me back..._

No. Just stop. It's a delicious thought, sure, but I can't dwell on these things or I'll go insane.

I wonder what it'd be like to say it. _I love you_. I don't think I've ever told anyone that.

Though, as I gaze at his lovely face and listen to his slow breathing, I realize that maybe he'd be someone I wouldn't mind saying it to.

But I can't. I don't think he'd take it very well, since he doesn't love me back. Not to mention, I don't even know for sure if I _do_ love him.

Oh well. I guess it isn't a big deal.

Giroro sighs and quietly mutters something in his sleep. Pretty, pretty face. What delightful features he's got. They're so beautiful, I want to touch them. So I do. He can't stop me, he's asleep and doesn't even know.

I gently run my forefinger down the length of the scar that starts above his left eyebrow and ends in the middle of his cheek. I lightly trace the outline of his lips and touch the prominent Adam's apple on his throat. I kiss the tip of his nose and place my hand on his chest, feeling the beat of his heart against my fingers.

Really, it's amazing that Giroro has slept through all of this prodding. I want to _continue_ touching him and gazing at him, too, but I'm so tired and my head pounds from the alcohol I consumed earlier, so I take one last look at him before rolling back onto my other side, so that we're spooning, and closing my eyes.

Right before I slip down into sleep, I feel him wrap an arm around my waist, pulling my body closer to his.

* * *

 **D'aww. Kululu and Giroro finally got laid. _Nice~  
*thumbs up*_  
**

 **POOR DORORO'S GARDEN THO.**

 **IT WAS A WHOLESOME, PURE PLACE.**

 **BUT NOT ANYMORE.**

 **Hey, does anyone here watch The Office? If so, you know the part in the Benihana Christmas episode, right after Michael broke up with Carol, where he's talking about bros before hoes and he says, "... and suddenly, she ain't your hoe... no mo'!"  
Ah, I feel like that's Giroro's thoughts on Natsumi right now. Ain't your hoe no mo... :/  
**

 **(if you've never seen the show before just type 'the office ho no mo' into Google and watch the clip :P it's funny)**


	9. 9

**Ahh, now the corporal's reaction to doin' the frick-frack with Kululu. So heartwarming (/not).**

 **It makes me so happy to get reviews from you guys! And if there's something that you want to ask me about or whatever, go ahead and PM me~ (or I guess you can just leave a really looong review)**

* * *

Unfortunately, my prediction that Giroro would be unhappy when he awoke in the morning was accurate.

Actually, 'unhappy' is kind of an understatement. He completely freaks out. When he wakes up, he gives a kind of muffled scream before roughly pushing me off of him and jumping to his feet. Groaning the whole way, he frantically dresses and dashes from the room, saying nothing to me except, " _Oh my god, I need to shower._ "

I frown a little. What, does he have to wash so urgently because I contaminated him somehow?

But when I look down at myself, I see that I'm very dirty from rolling around with Giroro in the garden and decide that that's probably what his deal is. I hope that's what it is, at least.

I go out the door and walk down the hallway to the showers. I'm dizzy, my muscles are sore, and it feels like the fluorescent lighting is too bright. That's what I get for being a drunken whore last night, I guess.

Once I've cleaned all the soil from my skin and gotten dressed in clean clothes, I go upstairs to the kitchen and sit next to Keroro and Tamama on the couch. I accept a cup of coffee from the sergeant and wait for the corporal to finish showering and come up.

After just a few minutes, the door opens, and I look up expecting to see Giroro.

But it isn't Giroro. It's Dororo, and he's crying.

"T-the - my garden! Someone... s-someone...!" he sputters. There's a wet spot on his mask from his nose running.

"Hey, hey, calm down!" Keroro says, jumping up and raising his hands. "What's wrong?"

"It's my garden!" Dororo wails. "Someone went down there and destroyed my radishes!"

Internally screaming, I try to look innocent and listen silently as the others console the sobbing lance corporal.

Giroro comes in, and seeing the chaos, immediately questions what Dororo's problem is. He blanches when he hears the answer, and his eyes briefly flicker to me. The corporal is doing nothing to conceal the guilt on his expression, but no one appears to notice.

"That sucks, Dororo," Tamama says, popping the tab on a can of soda. "Who would even do something like that? It's a serious dick move..."

"Obviously someone who lives here," I say. The others look at me in surprise. "It must have been one of us; there's nobody else who could have been down there."

I hate to bring myself and Giroro up as one of the suspects, but I feel as though it would have been _more_ suspicious to keep completely quiet. From the way Giroro's looking at me, it seems like he disagrees. Oh well.

"He's right...," Keroro replies. The lance corporal nods, and then looks at all of us in turn expectantly.

"Well! It was one of you!" Dororo says, his voice cracking. He's begun to get a grip on himself, but he's still very upset. "Who was it?"

None of us speak. Keroro and Dororo both eye everyone suspiciously, but no one confesses.

I notice that the sergeant is squinting at me in particular, so I raise my eyebrows.

"Kululu...," he says.

"What?"

"It was you, wasn't it?"

"Nah," I reply.

"It really seems like the kind of thing you would do, sergeant major," Keroro points out.

"My pranks are more well-thought-out than this." I shrug and look up at Dororo. "Whether or not you believe me, lance corporal, I didn't do it."

Dororo sighs. "Okay."

In my mind, I laugh. He really believed me? I didn't think I had been that convincing, but that fool bought it. Good. Now let's just hope that Dororo believes whatever excuse Giroro thinks up as well.

Giroro simply tells Dororo that he would never do something like that to him, and I can see that Dororo immediately drops his suspicion of the corporal. It's possible that he never really considered him to be a suspect anyway.

The lance corporal moves on to questioning the others, and I glance up at Giroro. Relief is clearly written across his face. As if he feels me staring at him, he turns and meets my eyes. I smile at him and he looks down, biting his lip.

When he moves, his collar shifts slightly, exposing a portion of his neck that looks bruised.

I gaze at it in confusion for a moment, and then realize that it's a hickey.  
I grin a little to myself.

* * *

 **Since it was such a short chapter I'm going to upload the next one right now as well :) you should feel lucky receiving 2 chapters this time! haha  
**


	10. 10

***deep sigh*  
This is a sad chapter. The next chapter is also kind of a sad chapter. The one after that is as well. But that's okay. It'll get better :)**

* * *

Even though over the past months I had acknowledged that Giroro might choose to leave Pekopon, had even begun to mentally prepare myself for it, when it actually happens I'm caught off guard. Even though it really _is_ happening, we're at the train station with him _right now_ seeing him off, it still doesn't seem possible that the corporal is actually leaving.

The others are talking to him, telling him last-minute things and saying goodbye and everything, but I don't participate. There are things I want to say to him too, things I _need_ to tell him, but I just can't. I can't because I know that if I do, the lump in my throat will dissolve and I'll completely lose it.

As if through a dream, I hear Keroro ask Giroro where he's planning on going. The corporal replies that he's going to go and live with his dad and brother for a while until he figures out what he's going to do next.

The sergeant is beginning to get a little weepy, and by the time he's throwing his arms around Giroro and saying that he'll miss him, Dororo and Tamama are crying too.

While the others regain a grip on their tears, Giroro moves closer to me. I don't look up at him, but I swallow and then mutter, "Have a safe trip, corporal."

"Kululu," he says. I still don't look up.

After a few moments of silence Giroro holds his hand out, and I stiffly shake it. Once he has ahold of my hand, the corporal uses it to pull me into an embrace. I almost break down right there.

Quietly, so no one but me can hear him, Giroro asks, "Are you mad at me?"

I hesitate, and then say yes.

He pulls away, sighing, and then checks his watch. "My train leaves in just a few minutes," he tells us. "I need to get going."

Giroro boards the train and mere seconds later it starts moving. He raises his hand in farewell. I turn away.

"'Bye, Giroro!" Keroro calls. The sergeant pulls himself up into a salute and the others do the same.

But I don't.

* * *

When we get home, I descend to my room and settle down in my chair. I had tasks that I'd been intending on completing today, but now they seem pointless and I lack the motivation to do them.

I _am_ angry with Giroro. But mostly I'm angry with myself.

I think he's being a coward and I'd like nothing more than for him to come back so I can bitch-slap him. But I also think I was a coward and that I missed the last chance I'll have to tell the corporal how I really feel about him. Maybe _I'm_ the one who needs to be bitch-slapped.

I try and force those feelings down. They're stupid, and they aren't going to get me anywhere.

 _I don't care whether or not he leaves_ , I firmly tell myself.

 _Oh pl-ease_ , part of my mind mutters.

 _I do not care what the corporal does!_

 _Stop lying!_

Obviously this time I can't just tell myself a lie and make myself believe it. Perhaps it would be easier to believe if I wrote it out?

I bring up a blank file on one of my computer screens, and start typing.

 **"I don't care if Giroro goes or stays."**

I read the text a few times, and continue.

 **"Why should it matter to me if he leaves?"**

I try and cement the ideas I'm writing into my mind.

 **"I don't love him."**

After typing out this phrase, I halt. I can't make myself believe _that_. It's just... wrong. Does that mean I _do_ love him?

I'm still unsure of my feelings for Giroro, but now that I'm seeing it in writing somehow I know with one hundred percent certainty that the statement, "I do not love Giroro," is false.

In fact, it's so wrong that I don't even want to read it, so I hit backspace and erase everything I just wrote.

I start feeling oddly nauseated. Maybe I'm going to throw up? Yes. That definitely feels like what's happening. I shakily stand up and head towards my door. But I never reach it.

I sink to my knees a few feet away from the threshold and retch and heave until there's nothing left to come up.

And then I start crying.

* * *

 **Oh, Kululu, you poor sad sack.  
Even though it might not seem like there's any way I could continue this fic/ship now that Giroro's gone, don't fear! I have a plan~**


	11. 11

**What will Kululu do without the love of his life? I guess you'll have to read the next chapters to find out~**

* * *

What does it mean when you constantly see things that remind you of someone, even if they don't have anything specifically to do with them? What does it mean when the part of your mind that tells you not to do something starts speaking in their voice? What does it mean when someone is your first thought in the morning? And your last thought at night? What does it mean when you can't sleep because of the disquiet caused by their absence? What does it mean when you endlessly dwell on an isolated tryst that you thought everyone had agreed was just a one-time mistake? What does it mean when it feels like every single waking thought is dedicated to them?

What does it mean when you can't let someone go?

* * *

Giroro left behind a little black pocket knife. I found it in the grass where his tent had been pitched. Lately I've taken to carrying it around in my pocket. His name is engraved on the blade.

Keroro says that I've been acting weird lately. He says that I've been acting like an asshole. He says that I don't seem like myself.

I thought I was less transparent.

* * *

January is freezing. My hands are so cold all the time, and it keeps getting colder. By the time February has rolled around, we're getting snow every single day and having record low temperatures.

The only thing colder than the weather is the lance corporal's attitude towards me lately.

* * *

On February 12th, Keroro tells us that we're going to have a Valentine's Day party. He informs us that he wants it to be perfect because everyone we know is coming.

"What do you want us to do?" Tamama asks enthusiastically. What a kiss ass.

"Just the basics, you know, decorations and music and food," Keroro replies. "Nothing too fancy."

I guess that doesn't sound too bad.

"Oh, and you each need to find a date! This _is_ a Valentine's Day party, after all."

Son of a _bitch_.

"Do you want to be my date, Sarge?" asks Tamama.

"Sure, private!"

I put my feet up on the table and look around. "He-ey, Lance Corporal Dororo," I teasingly drawl. "Wanna be my Valentine's date?" Normally I'd ask Giroro this for the amusement of seeing him get flustered. But he isn't here right now.

"No," replies Dororo tersely.

"Aww, why?" I ask, grinning. My smile drops slightly when I catch sight of his forbidding expression.

"Just leave me alone."

I raise an eyebrow at him. He usually isn't so short with people.

"If that's everything, Keroro, I'm going to go tend to my garden...," Dororo says, standing up.

"Yup, that was all!"

"Okay."

Dororo leaves the room. I go as well, and Keroro calls out a reminder to bring a date to the party.

* * *

I silently follow closely behind Dororo until we reach his garden, at which point he turns around and gives me a look. "Why are you following me, sergeant major?"

"Because I want to know what your problem is."

"I don't have a problem," Dororo replies unconvincingly, entering the room. I step in as well. My eyes at once flick to the place on the ground where Giroro and I were intimate and I see that all of the plants have been pulled up and the soil re-tilled.

"You've seemed a little upset with me lately," I tell him. "Which is, of course, _completely outrageous_."

He glares at me. After a moment, in a slightly shaking voice, he says, "I can't help it if you think that my garden is stupid. It matters to me and you had no right to deface it."

I roll my eyes. "You still think it was me?"

"Who else could it have been?!"

"I don't know."

"I do." He grabs a watering can and starts watering his plants.

"It could have been Keroro," I say.

"It wasn't Keroro," he replies.

"Maybe it was Aki."

"It wasn't Aki, either."

"Well, it wasn't me."

"So it was Giroro, then?" Dororo asks.

"No."

"Kululu, that means it was you!"

Oho, boy. He got me there.

"Fine, Lance Corporal Dororo. You win," I say.

"... I-it _was_ you?"

"Yeah, it was both of us."

It's like the words just fell out of my mouth.

"You - you two came down here and destroyed my garden together?!" His eyes suddenly widen and he gasps. "Were you trying to steal my vegetables?!"

I sigh, exasperated. "No, lance corporal," I tell him firmly. "None of us care about your stupid plants."

Dororo looks a little hurt. "If you weren't in here for my garden, then why _were_ you guys down here?"

"We were..." I struggle to come up with an excuse. "Doing... something else..." My cheeks start feeling hot.

He shakes his head, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Uhh..."

"If you weren't here to hurt my plants, then why were the two of you in my garden in the middle of the-" He halts. There's an awful look of realization on his face. "... Oh no."

I look away, chuckling nervously.

"Kululu, you didn't... Please tell me you didn't..."

I can see no way out of this, so after a moment I nod.

I hear him drop his watering can. "No, no, no, no...," he's saying frantically. " _No, no, no, no_."

"Yes."

" _No_...," he moans.

"Lance corporal-"

"Sergeant major!"

"It isn't a big deal, we just-"

"Not a big deal?!" Dororo yells shrilly at me. " _You had sex in my garden!_ "

"But-"

" _Sex in my garden!_ "

He's starting to cry again, thick tears streaming down his face and harsh sobs shaking his thin body. "I can't believe you!"

I shrug indifferently.

" _What's wrong with you?!_ " He looks kind of like a maniac now. "What could have possibly compelled you and Giroro to sneak down to my garden in the middle of the night to make love?!"

"We didn't mean to do it here, we just... ended up here."

He groans loudly. "How could you do this to me?!"

"It was really easy, actually."

"Ugh." Dororo wipes his face on his sleeve and sniffles.

"Heh... sorry about that..."

Dororo mutters something unintelligible back. He sighs and rubs his temples then says, "Are... are you and Giroro a couple now?"

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, the corporal isn't here anymore."

"If he was still here, would you guys be together?"

"I don't know."

"Did Giroro leave because of what happened?" Dororo asks.

I chuckle, even though I don't particularly think any of this is funny.  
"Who knows?"

"Hm."

I stick my hands in my pockets and watch Dororo pick up his watering can again and resume watering his plants. After a few moments, he says, "Isn't Giroro a little... you know...?"

"Huh?"

"... Isn't Giroro a little too old for you?"

What? Too old for me? It never even occurred to me. I guess there is kind of a big age difference, but somehow it doesn't seem important.

"I dunno," I reply. "Even if he is, though, it's none of your business."

The lance corporal is quiet for several more seconds before he asks, "What are you going to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you going to go and try to convince Giroro to come back?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because he already made his choice."

"I think you should," Dororo says.

"I don't really care what you think I should do," I tell him placidly.

"But if you love him, then you at least have to try, right? You've got to let him know how you feel." The lance corporal nods his head encouragingly.

"Who says I love him?"

"Well, I mean, you two had, uh, relations... _right in my garden_...," he adds in an undertone.

"That doesn't mean I love him. Maybe I just wanted sex."

"But..."

"You're so naïve, lance corporal."


	12. 12

**New chapter! Lucky you, haha.  
Sorry that it's been a little while since I uploaded, I only have a few pre-written chapters left so I'm trying to pace myself a little :P  
Thanks to all of you who leave reviews, I love reading about what you think of my fics!**

* * *

The garish sparkly hearts and multicolored paper chains that Keroro put up for the party make our living room look like a kindergarten classroom at Valentine's.

I sit cross-legged on the floor leaning against a wall, watching everyone mill about. When Keroro comes over to me and hands me a cup of something that's dark red and, I'm sure, painfully sweet, I accept it without looking up at him.

"Are you having a nice time?"

I shrug indifferently.

"Oh, right!" Keroro says. "This is for you." He hands me a red, heart-shaped card with lace trim.

I take it and glance down the front. On it is a hand-written message:

" _ **Happy Valentine's Day, Sergeant Major Kululu!**_

 _ **\- Keroro**_ "

"Thanks," I reply. He's drawn a little picture of me at the bottom of the card. I look happy.

"Did you bring a date, sergeant major?" he asks.

"Mm. No."

"Everyone else has one!"

I look around and see that, yes, everyone else has a partner.

"Kululu!" the sergeant implores. "We talked about this!"

"I don't care," I reply, carefully setting the drink down beside me. I place the card in my breast pocket and my fingers brush against Giroro's knife.

"Why didn't you bring a date?" Keroro inquires.

"There wasn't anyone I wanted to bring...," I mumble.

"You could have brought _someone_ , though, right?"

"Nope."

Keroro sighs. "Yeah, okay, whatever. Listen, I have to go give Tamama his card too." He pats my head, then rushes off, saying, "Make sure to bring a date next time, sergeant major!"

 _There won't be a next time..._ , I think to myself.

 _Wait, what?_  
I have to question my own thoughts. There was no reason to think that. I'm not going anywhere. Or am I?

I remember what the lance corporal asked me.

 _"Are you going to go and try to convince Giroro to come back?"_

No. That isn't a good idea. I can't do that. I can't. Giroro isn't coming back. He just isn't. I have to accept that.

Giroro's never coming back.

But what if I were to go to him?

No, I can't. Giroro wouldn't like it.

Saburo kisses his wife and then comes over to where I sit. He plops down next to me and asks something that I don't quite catch and therefore ignore. He repeats the question. "Kululu, how are you doin'?"

"Fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

The clock on the wall strikes seven and as if on cue, I rise from the floor.

"'Bye, Saburo."

"Where are you going?" he asks, frowning slightly.

"Gotta go," I answer. I'm not sure why I replied like this. I'm not even sure why I'm leaving. But I know that for whatever reason, I have to go.

"Go? Go where?"

I laugh mysteriously to avoid answering and leave the room.

I descend to the base and grab a backpack from a closet on the way down to my room. I hear the clocks in the base tolling the hour too.

 _Seven o' clock! Time to go!_

I get a change of clothes from a cabinet in my room and shove them into my bag. I stow my laptop and a package of curry in the backpack as well and then sling it across my shoulder. A smile creeps across my face as I scrawl a note to Keroro before heading out of my room, returning to the main areas of this home, crossing the hallway to the front door, and quietly exiting the Hinata house.

 _ **Keroro -**_

 _ **I'm going go to Keron for a while. Just visiting. Maybe I'll be back, maybe I won't, ha ha.**_

 _ **Don't follow me.**_

 _ **\- SGM Kululu**_

* * *

 **There goes dat boi!  
O shit so long!  
**

 **Kululu is officially on his way to get his man! :D**


	13. 13

**A new chapter! Yay! Gotta see how this whole "chasing after my bf" thing goes for 966 :)  
**

 **Be sure to leave a review and pm me with any questions!**

* * *

"Do you have a ticket?" the robots ask.

"Yeah." I hand one of them my ticket and it punches it before moving on to the next passenger.

A man comes down the aisle and sits beside me. The conductor robots come back down to our row and take his ticket as well. The man looks very happy.

"Hey," he says to me.

"Yo," I respond flatly. I hope he doesn't try to make conversation with me.

"I'm Gordon."

"Okay."

"What's your name?" He leans forward a little to see me better.

"... Sergeant Major Kululu."

"Ohh, a sergeant major, huh? So you're in the army, right? Are you a Keronian?"

"Yes."

"Nice, nice..." Gordon removes his hat and sets his bag on the floor between his feet. "I like your glasses," he says, smiling warmly.

"Thanks."

"Are you going home?"

"Yes."

"I am too," he tells me, his face lighting up. "I can't wait to see my family." He looks out the window. "Are you visiting family there, too?"

"It's complicated."

"Oh, yeah, complicated, complicated, I see...," he responds, nodding.

There's only a few moment's silence before Gordon speaks again. "Do you wanna talk about it?" he asks. "People tell me that I'm really good to talk to."

"No, thanks."

"Sure, sure, that's fine... I'm here for you if you need me, though."

Gordon doesn't say anything for a record-breaking three minutes after this, but then he says, "Who are you visiting on Keron? Is it your brother or something? Or, like, an ex-wife?"

Good _lord_ , why is he so nosy? Ugh, what am I gonna tell him? Gordon doesn't seem like the kind of person I'll be able to ignore... If I did, he'd probably just keep asking question after question after question...

What exactly is Giroro to me, anyway? He's not my boyfriend. He's not family. He definitely isn't just a co-worker. I guess he's just... someone I love. Provided, of course, that the feelings I have about him are, indeed, love. It's a little hard to tell sometimes.

Before I have a chance to answer Gordon, the train pulls into a station. "Oh!" he exclaims, rising. "This is my stop!" He picks up his bag and puts on his hat. He grasps my hand and says, "It was really nice to meet you, Kululu! Thanks for being a great companion on my train ride! 'Bye!" Beaming, he files out the door with a few other people.

I look out the window and see Gordon being greeted by a woman and three tiny children. I'm sure that _he_ has no doubt that he loves them.

* * *

Keron looks exactly how I remember it, even though it's been nearly twenty years since I've been here. I don't pay much attention to what direction I'm walking in when I leave the bustling train station, but I end up where I need to be anyway, as if my feet remembered the paths that I used to walk when I was younger.

Long weeds brush against my shins as I meander through the neighborhood with the overgrown lawns and the chipping paint on the houses.

Many of the homes are deserted, but not the one at the end of the block. I go up the drive and through the unlocked gate.

He's sitting on the porch with a bottle tipping in one hand and a cigarette held between the forefingers of the other.

When I near, he squints at me briefly through his thick glasses. But then a look of recognition passes over his face and he stands up.

"Kululu?" He sticks his cigarette in his mouth and sets his bottle down on the ground.

"... What's shakin', bacon?" I say.

"I thought you were on Pekopon."

"No, I'm clearly on Keron, standing in front of you. Wow, Huroro, is your eyesight really that bad?"

"Calling your dad by his name, huh?"

"Oh, gosh, sorry, would you rather I call you father? Or daddy? How about stupid jackass? I think that suits you best."

"Geez, cool it, Major Kululu." He puts his hands up and smirks at me.  
"Ah, imagine: my perfect, beautiful son, a major! Oh, wait...," he adds mockingly. "You got demoted, didn't you?"

"Nice one. Yeah, I got demoted. I'm so fucking proud of you for coming up with that insult. You got me _so good_. Oh, how will I ever recover from that devastating blow...?"

He gives me a cold smile that's filled with hate. "You haven't changed a bit, have you?"

"No."

"Great," he replies sarcastically, dragging on his cigarette. "So, what do you want?"

"So lovely of you to ask. I'd like to book a room in the finest establishment I can imagine."

He raises his eyebrow at me.

"... I need to live here with you for a little while."

"Why the hell should I let you? Our first meeting in years and you're acting like the same hostile asshole that you were when you left."

"Come on."

He gives me an appraising look that's terribly irritating, and then he rolls his eyes and says, "Yeah, okay. Do whatever you want, Kululu. Just stay out of my way."

I follow Huroro into the house. When I left home at fifteen, I thought that there would never be anything that would bring me back.  
I guess I was wrong.

The floor is littered with empty bottles, cigarette butts, and other miscellaneous wrappers. The entire house reeks of alcohol and cigarette smoke.

"Sorry about the mess," he says gruffly. I can't tell if he's being sarcastic or not. "Ever since your mother died I haven't really kept tidy."

"Yeah, Huroro," I reply with a snort. "I can see that."

"Enough of your cheek, Kululu. Seriously, I had enough of that when you were younger."

"You gonna handle it the same way as when I was younger, too?" I tease. "Huh? Really, what are you going to do? Planning on beating your nearly thirty-year-old son to teach him a nice lesson, daddy?"

"Screw you, Kululu." He grabs a coat and puts it on. "I'm going out. You can sleep on the couch. Don't touch any of my stuff." Then he leaves the house, muttering things about me under his breath.

I set my bag down, glaring after him. I don't know _why_ I ever thought it'd be a good idea to stay here.

I hear a gong sound from behind me and I jump. Turning around, I see that it's a clock on the wall chiming that it's eight-o-clock.  
I blow air out of the side of my mouth. I guess it's a little too late to go over to Giroro's house tonight. I'll have to do it tomorrow.

I look around the living room. There's an almost tangible feeling of heaviness here.

* * *

 **Ahh, Kululu's daddy issues revealed!**  
 **Huroro is such a dick, geez. I hated writing him, ugh.**

 **Also, a note in case you were wondering: I know that all of the Keronians are, in fact, _thousands_ of years old, but for the sake of my fanfiction and since it's possible that thousands of Pekoponian years would equal out to only 25-30 Keronian years anyway, I wrote Kululu calling himself nearly-thirty-years old (I picture Kululu being around 28)**


	14. 14

**I'm back, baby! New chapter, feelin' good.**

 **This is, unfortunately, the last chapter that I had pre-written, so combined with that and the ever-looming demon that is schoolwork, it will be a little while in-between chapters of this fic now.  
Not, like, months or anything, but longer than it has been thus far.  
ur ok tho, you'll live.**

 **I am unable to directly leave a reply to guest reviews, so I'm gonna do it in the author's note~**

 **SoulessAlpha (who I'm sure is gonna read this ;P), you had asked in a review for my other fic, We Need You Around, about the Rurlough's appearance. The Rurlough are briefly described in the first chapter, but to be honest, we never really go into detail about what they look like. Sorry :/  
I can give you something _much_ better than a description, however! If you go to the Keroro Gunso Orikero Wikia (google it C:) and search in the searchbar for The Rurlough, you'll be redirected to the wikia page that I set up for the Rurlough :D It includes drawings of the Rurlough that my sister and I did, a physical description, a detailed backstory, and a few tidbits about their 'daily lives' ^u^  
Hope that helps~!  
**

* * *

I have a headache when I wake up in the morning, probably from breathing in cigarette smoke all night. I can hear Huroro throwing up in the bathroom.

"Too much partying last night, Daddy?" I yell down the hall to him as I put on my glasses and start rummaging through my bag for a shirt.

He coughs and spits, then calls, "Fuck you."

I chuckle to myself and pull on my shoes. I wonder if I smell like smoke from sleeping here, and hope that maybe I won't since I've only been here one night.

Oh, but who am I kidding? I know that I must reek of both cigarettes and alcohol.

Gross.

I don't really want to go to meet Giroro for the first time in months smelling like a bum... I hear the shower turn on and consider asking Huroro if he has any cologne or something.

Wait, what am I talking about? I'm not going to ask him for anything.  
I head down the hall, go into his room, and begin looking through the shelves and drawers.

 _"Don't touch any of my stuff,"_ he had said. Psh. He should have known that there was nothing else he could have said that would make me want to touch his stuff more.

I can't find any cologne but I do find a bottle of aftershave, so I go ahead and slap some of that on my face.

As I'm leaving Huroro's room, I spot a package of cigarettes and a lighter sitting on a table and, on a whim, I pocket them. I don't really like cigarettes so I might end up not even smoking them, but I take them anyway.

I check my pocket to make sure that Giroro's knife is still there and look at my reflection in a dirty mirror on the wall before going out the door.

* * *

Over the years, I've come to know that Giroro, Keroro, and I all grew up in the same neighborhood, so I know the general area that Giroro's house is in and I also know what it looks like, though I lack the knowledge of its exact location. That's okay, I guess. I'll just keep walking until I find it.

It takes a little bit of wandering around and a few wrong turns, but eventually I come to stand in front of the corporal's door.

Should I knock or ring the doorbell...? I suddenly feel extremely self-conscious.

I decide to knock _and_ ring the doorbell. I quickly look down at my clothes and wonder if I should tuck my shirt in.

I stick my hands in my pockets, remove them and shift my weight back and forth a few times, then put them back in again. I'm starting to think that maybe I shouldn't have put on that aftershave; it's making me smell like a teenager who used too much body spray.

After what feels like forever, I hear footsteps approaching the door and I hold my breath. A moment later, the door opens - and it's Garuru.  
He looks surprised to see me.

"Sergeant Major Kululu?" he asks, cocking his head.

"Good morning."

Garuru nods, frowning a little. "Good morning. It's certainly been a while."

"Yeah." We stand awkwardly in silence for a moment. "So... what's crackin'?" I ask.

He doesn't reply. He's staring at me with one of his eyebrows raised. He looks just like Giroro. "Can I help you with something, sergeant major?"

"Yes. I'm looking for Giroro."

"Giroro's at work right now, he left about an hour ago."

"Oh. Right. Okay." I hadn't thought about that. For some reason, I just assumed he'd be home. "Uh..."

"If there's something you wanted to tell him, I could take a message...?"

"No, no, I need to talk to him in person."

"That's fine, you can just come back later. He gets home around six."

"Okay. Thank you, lieutenant."

"You're welcome."

I stand on the doorstep for a few seconds while Garuru stares at me, and then I abruptly turn around and walk away. "See you later."

* * *

So, I guess I have some time to kill. It crosses my mind to go back to Huroro's house, but I really don't want to, so I'll just find somewhere to sit for a while.

There's a park near Giroro's house that my mom used to take me and my siblings to, so I walk down to it and sit by a fountain in the center.

I watch people meander around: old men and women, little kids with their parents, young couples...

Suddenly, the thought occurs to me that it's very possible that Giroro has found a girlfriend in the time he's been gone. If he has, it'll be a little weird when I suddenly show up and declare my feelings for him.

Ohh, he better not have someone else. He's been gone for a while now and he's such an attractive guy... It wouldn't surprise me if he's found someone.

Someone he loves... someone he wants to marry... someone who he would rather spend his life with.

Just thinking about it makes me angry.

I light one of Huroro's cigarettes and choke on its putrid smoke for a while before I toss the butt in the fountain and get up to stretch my legs.

Eight hours passes faster than I thought it would, and before I know it it's time to go back to Giroro's house.

"Welcome back, sergeant major," Garuru says, sounding slightly amused as he greets me for the second time today. "Giroro's in the kitchen. He just got home." The lieutenant motions for me to follow him and he leads me through his house to the kitchen.

I feel a strange swooping sensation of excitement in my stomach when I first see Giroro. He's sitting at the table filling out what looks like paperwork.

It's almost startling how much healthier he looks since I last saw him. There's a healthy glow to his skin, he's regained the weight and muscle he had lost when he was drinking, and he doesn't look nearly as exhausted. But aside from that and a uniform change (he's wearing a grey button-up shirt and pants that have grease stains all over them), he doesn't look different from when he left. I suppose it hasn't been long enough for him to look dramatically different. It's only been a few months. I guess it just felt like a long time.

Garuru says, "Giroro, there's someone here to see you," and the corporal glances up from his papers.

When Giroro sees me, there's a fraction of a second's delay before his already large eyes widen in surprise and he jumps up from his chair as if electrocuted. He shakes his head slightly and seems to struggle to find words.

Garuru's eyes flick back and forth between me and Giroro briefly, before he says, "I'm going to, um, leave... I think dad said he wanted help with..." His voice trails off and he leaves the room without finishing his thought.  
A moment later we hear him go out the front door.

Giroro has done nothing but gape at me in horror and stutter a few times, so I smile at him brightly and say, "What's cookin', good lookin'?"

* * *

 **yeeeaaHH Kululu's bf makes his reappearance!**

 **What's cookin', good lookin'!**

 **I really love Giroro ok.  
( _and sooo does Kululu~!_ )**


	15. 15

_**Salutations~!**_ **After waiting for sooo long, there's a new chapter! Thank you for being patient c:**

 **My laptop has been having trouble! Terrible! The video card is screwed, so I have no screen :/ I haven't been able to write or access any of my files which is why it was so long before I uploaded this chapter... but that's unimportant, we'll just fix it, and I'll use my sister's laptop for the time being ^^**

 **THIS IS A GOOD CHAPTER I PROMISE IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT**

 **Be sure to leave a review, PM me with any questions, and enjoy!**

* * *

"So-o...," I say, raising my eyebrows and grinning pleasantly at him, "how's it going, dear corporal?"

"K-Kululu... what...?" He shakes his head in disbelief. "What are you doing here?" I take a step forward and he takes a step back.

"Oh, you know, I just happened to be in the neighborhood."

"Bullshit," Giroro says simply. "You followed me. You _followed me_ here!" He looks almost afraid now. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

I chuckle and pull the papers on the table closer to me, reading the headings. It's some kind of survey for employees of the Keronian Railway Corporation. "You're working at the KRC now?"

"I'm not an idiot, Kululu! I know you weren't ' _just in the neighborhood_ '," the corporal barks, ignoring my question. "Why are you here?"

"Oh, hang on, I just remembered..." I walk around the table to where he stands and take his knife out of my pocket. "You forgot this," I say, holding it out to him.

He takes it, a bewildered expression on his face. His pretty, pretty face...

Even though it's not like Giroro is exactly thrilled to see me, I feel very happy. It feels right to be with him, like everything has all finally fit into place. These few months have been the only time in the past eighteen years that I haven't lived in the same house with him, and that time was, to put it simply, _not_ fun.

I'm starting to think that I really do love him. There's never been anyone else whose presence I've craved like I do his, never been a time when I've looked at anyone else and felt this way... Honestly, if these feelings aren't love, then clearly this is the closest to it that I'll be able to get.

His eyes flick back and forth between mine and he crosses his arms, frowning. I become momentarily transfixed by the muscles in his biceps...

"Hey!" Giroro suddenly snaps his fingers in my face, demanding my attention. "Stop spacing out and answer my question!"

"Hmm... a question, you say?" I tease. "Would you mind repeating it?"

He leans in so that he's right in my face. I can see that his pupils are constricted from rage. " _Why-are-you-here?!_ " he asks again, putting emphasis on each word.

"That's a good question," I reply. Even though I maintain my carefree disposition, I know I'm in trouble. I won't be able to avoid his question much longer. I'm going to have to tell him. "But before I answer it, I have a question for you."

He rolls his eyes. "Fine. What is it?"

"Why are _you_ here?"

"What?"

"Why did you leave?"

He looks down. "Kululu..."

"Why did you have to go?" I ask. "I want to know."

"I decided that-" He begins, but my thoughts from the last few months start flooding out without my consent.

"What, you couldn't take my shit anymore?"

"No, that's not it, I just-"

"Thought that maybe somehow it would come out that we screwed?"

"No, Kululu, would you listen to me?! I-"

"Maybe you just wanted to see what sex was like, huh? Didn't want to be a fuckin' virgin anymore, did you? But, oh no, once you started to regret choosing me as your partner you decided it would be _best for everyone_ if you took off?" I stick my hands in my pockets and act casual as if my words aren't ripping my fucking heart into a million fucking pieces.

" _Will you just shut up and listen?!_ "

"Do you really hate me that much?"

There's a ringing silence after I say that. Giroro looks dumbfounded.  
"What...?" he asks.

"Do you," I repeat slowly, "really hate me so much that you couldn't stand to be around me anymore?" Something cold (sadness, I suppose, or perhaps even fear) is spreading throughout my body, making me feel nauseated.

He rolls his eyes again. "You self-centered bastard."

"What?"

Giroro sighs softly and locks eyes with me. "This isn't about you, okay? I don't hate you," he says. "I don't hate you now, I didn't hate you when I left... I haven't ever hated you." I make a small scoffing sound and he continues, "Just listen to me. Don't interrupt. Okay?"

I lean against the table and nod.

"Kululu, you have a lot of qualities that I don't appreciate. You're sleazy. You don't try to work hard. You don't adhere to the boundaries that most people recognize. You don't respect women. You're so weird that sometimes I wonder if there's actually something wrong with your mind. I'm not going to lie, there is a _lot_ about you that I don't like."

"Apparently...," I mutter under my breath.

"But none of that means I hate you." I don't look at him and I don't reply. "I'm sure that you can pick out just as many qualities about me that you dislike, maybe even more, but still, that doesn't make you hate me. Do you understand?"

"Maybe I do hate you."

"You don't."

"Psh. What makes you so sure?"

"If you hated me, you wouldn't be here."

I blow air out of the side of my mouth. "Bingo."

Nothing more is said for a few moments, and then Giroro quietly asks, "You never answered my question. What do you think you're doing here?"

"You didn't answer my question either. How come you left, Giroro?"

"I didn't answer because you didn't give me the chance to!"

"That's not relevant."

He runs his hand through his hair, looking tired. "Sit down." I do.

He takes the chair across from me and bites his lip.

"Kululu, I left because I had to. It was killing me to be there, I couldn't stand it any more."

"You are such a coward."

He glares at me but doesn't reply. "I hated living there with everyone," he continues. "I knew I would be happier if I left, but something was always tethering me there."

"Natsumi?" I ask.

"No," he answers curtly.

I'm confused for a moment, and then my mind screams out, _He's talking about you, dumbass!_

I close my mouth and look down.

"… Now…" His tone suddenly changes to sounding terribly businesslike. "... Tell me why you're here."

"What, corporal, don't you already know?"

"Maybe, but I want you to tell me," Giroro replies.

"I just wanted… mm…" My words start slurring together. "Ahh, I uh, umm…"

Giroro rolls his eyes. "Come on, Kululu! Form your words correctly or I'll kick you out on your ass right now!"

"I, um, hate… ehh… just…! So much…! I, uh, so… didn't… didn't… u-umm…" I'm trying to form words, but my mouth isn't listening to the orders I give it.

"Spit it out!"

"That, uh, wasn't clear enough for you?" I ask hopefully.

"No!"

"I hated being… you know… when you, um… it just… y'know…," I sputter out. "Ah?"

"Can you please, _for the love of god_ , form a complete, logical sentence?!"

'Logical sentence'  
I'll shove a logical sentence right up his ass.

"I didn't like being without you on Pekopon. I hated it. It sucked. I felt so bored and tired and angry all the time. That little knife you left behind?" I point at it in his hand. "I've been carrying that thing around for _weeks_."

His face turns bright pink.

"I felt betrayed that you left and mad at myself for caring. I couldn't sleep; I kept having dreams about you. I couldn't eat; it was like food had no taste. I spent solid hours, days even, just thinking about you. And eventually, it was too much, so I stood up and left. Is that clear enough for you, _corporal_?"

Giroro stands stiffly and avoids eye contact. He looks shocked, uncomfortable, maybe even a little guilty…

"So, how's life on Keron?" I ask suddenly.

He looks up, surprised at the abrupt change of topic. "Uh…"

"Are you still a boozer?" I ask.

"No, I had to stop because of work…"

"Meet anyone new?"

"I-"

"Any new friends?"

"Well-"

"Have you been sleeping with anyone lately?"

" _Kululu!_ "

"Have you?"

"No, but-!"

I smile. Good.

"Kululu," he begins again, looking exasperated.

"I love the sound of you saying my name, corporal, ku ku ku…"

" _Shut your mouth for thirty seconds and let me speak!_ "

I give a mock salute and he takes a deep breath. "Kululu, it's _really_ weird that you came here. Do you understand that?"

"Huh?"

"This is just... ridiculous! It's like you're stalking me! I went to another planet and you _followed me_!"

I grin a little. "Ah, you know what they say, corporal, love makes you do crazy things…"

A shadow crosses Giroro's face. "What?"

"Hm?"

"What did you just say?" he asks slowly.

"I said that love… Oh…" It's my turn to go pink now. "I just…"

"You don't love me, Kululu." He says it like he's trying to express a simple concept to someone stupid.

"Ye- well… I mean… Mm…"

"Kululu," he says. I look up at him. "This is weird. You made it weird. You got too attached, and that's your problem." He shakes his head at me sadly. "Kululu, you have to go home."

His words cut through me like a knife and leave me bleeding.

I was such a fool, _such a fool_ , for actually believing he cared about me. Why would he? Like he said, I'm a sleazy, lazy, weird prick who doesn't know when to quit.

Part of my mind immediately goes on defense.

 _He doesn't know what the hell he's talking about! He didn't sound that convinced, anyway… And, he wasn't making eye contact, maybe he didn't actually feel it…_

 _Oh, but you're just lying to yourself again, aren't you?!_

He lightly touches my arm and I get goosebumps. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know." I moisten my bottom lip and look up at him. "Giroro," I plead, "I came all the way here for you, I-"

"I never asked you to do that," he says softly.

"Please…" I whisper. I feel naked and completely stripped of all the protective barriers I normally put up against people.

He shakes his head.

"So, while I was on Pekopon unable to function without you, you were here not even caring about at all?!" I say hopelessly.

"I didn't say that. This has been hard on me, too, but I think it'd be best if we both just move on. Okay?"

I feel disconnected, disembodied. I push my glasses further up the bridge of my nose and barely hear myself as I say, "Whatever you say, corporal."

* * *

 ***feigns shock but isn't really shocked 'cause I knew this was gonna happen***

 **It certainly seems like this is the end of their relationship, no? Ah, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see~  
(if you're upset about GiroKulu not being a thing anymore and are considering not reading anymore, all I have to say is that this fic is _not_ over, so why not let's just see what happens? :P)**


	16. 16

**bum-budum-bum-bum-bum-bum~**

 **New chapter~**

* * *

Huroro stands up when I come in the house and spits, "It's almost three a.m., motherfucker. Where have you been?"

"Sorry," I say sarcastically, "I forgot about my _curfew_. Nice of you to wait up for me, though."

"I had to," he sneers. "I can't lock up the house and go to bed until you get back."

"Uh-huh."

"I'm not going to do this again, Kululu. Tomorrow night I'm locking the door at eight and if you aren't here then you can just stay outside," he tells me.

"Whatever." I unbutton my shirt and take it off, then shove it into my bag. I remove my belt and kick off my shoes before reaching for my laptop, but I notice that Huroro is staring at me so I halt. "Like what you see, old man?"

He gives a short laugh. "Of course not. You're a skinny, pale little bitch and no one, much less me, would ever find you attractive."

"That's nice," I reply. "Why are you watching me undress, then?"

He purses his lips. "I left a pack of cigarettes and a lighter on my table this morning. When I got out of the shower, they were gone."

"What a shame."

"Did you take them?"

"Yeah."

"Give them back, Kululu," he orders.

"I can't, sorry."

"Why?"

I shrug my shoulders ( _nothing I can do for you, Dad_ ) and say, "I smoked them."

"You did not, you little lying bitch! I can see that you don't smoke, there's no way you'd be able to stomach a full pack at once!"

Ah, actually, he's right. "Nice going, there, Papa, you saw right through the hole in my excuse." I retrieve his cigarettes from my back pocket and toss them into a glass of booze that sits on the occasional table. The lighter I took follows suit.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Huroro exclaims, snatching up the glass.

"I just wanted to return your things, Huroro. I made a mistake in taking them this morning, so I should try to make up for it." I grab his shirt collar and use it to pull him closer to me. I kiss him on the cheek and he sharply slaps me. I snicker at him.

He fishes the lighter out of the glass and uses it to light a dry cigarette he managed to produce from somewhere.

"Aww, why did I have to give you the pack I took? You had others…"

Huroro takes a drag on his cigarette and blows the smoke directly into my face. "You're a fucking retard," he says, shaking his head.

For what is not the first time tonight, I lose control of the carefully constructed character I play when I'm around people. I fling my fist into his face as hard as I can.

He retaliates with a sucker punch to my jaw that has more force behind it than my hit did. I stumble backwards, clutching my face and he shrilly yells, " _Get out of my fucking house!_ "

" _I'm not a retard!_ " I scream at him.

" _Yes you are!_ " He pitches his glass at me and it dully thunks against my arm.

" _I AM NOT A RETARD!_ " I yell again.

" _GO FUCK YOURSELF!_ " He throws my bag to me.

" _Screw you, you drunk bastard!_ "

Ha ha. I'm pretty sure that that's exactly what I said when I was fifteen as I left the house. I hike my bag up over my shoulders and flip him off with two hands before I practically run from the house. He slams the door behind me.

* * *

 **Poor Kululu, he's having a hard day :\**

 **Okay, first things first, I do NOT condone the use of the word 'retard' as an insult. I actually really hate when that word is used, I think it's a terrible thing to say. But I wanted to use it against Kululu for reasons that I will explain in a moment, so I made sure it's said by the foulest, most universally-hated person in my fic. Huroro is, to put it simply, a giant bag of dicks.**

 **Okay, so, if you're wondering why Kululu responded so savagely to the word 'retard', it's because I think that it's possible that Kululu is autistic. I know that that is different from being retarded, but I think that Kululu might be touchy about the word because 1. He would know that he's autistic and 2. It would have probably been something Huroro has been calling him since he was little and the teachers or doctors or whatever first started saying that Kululu could have a problem.**

 **If you want to see some of the reasons why I think that Kululu might be autistic, you can go to Kululu's wikia page and read his bio; I illustrated some of the evidence I had collected. If, after you read that, you disagree with the whole autism thing, take Kululu being upset by the word as he just didn't like the way it sounded c:**


	17. 17

**Heeeere we gooooo~**

 **New chapter and it's a good one c: you're lu~cky**

 **If you have any questions or comments be sure to leave a review! I loooove getting reviews :P**

* * *

I shiver against the frigid night air. My breath billows out in front of me in white clouds and frost is settled on the grass and the bench that I'm sitting on. It's easily below thirty degrees, cold enough to make my fingers numb. It wouldn't be hard to reach into my bag and get my shirt, but I don't bother. The fountain behind me is spraying little flecks of water onto my bare skin, but I don't move because the chill gives me something to focus on other than how much I hate Huroro and the unforgiving fact that Giroro doesn't love me.

Earlier when I was sitting in this park, I was nervous about seeing the corporal again, but I was also excited. Fifteen hours later and I'm sitting here again, instead feeling angry and sad.

 _Now what?_

Well, I'm definitely never going back to my father's house, so that's one possibility out of the way.

Do I go back to Giroro and try and make him love me? _Somehow, I think, that would only drive him further away…_ So, that idea's out.

I suppose that what I'm going to have to do is go back to Pekopon. Unless, of course, I want to try and start my life over on Keron. Maybe get back into the military, act as a cryptanalyst or something… No, I don't want to live on Keron anymore. Not while Giroro's still here.

That means that I will have to return to Pekopon and live with the others.

( _"Kululu, how was Keron? Did you see Giroro while you were there?"_

" _No," I reply, "I didn't see him, I was busy with HQ; they had called me back to Keron to help them sort something out."_

" _Did you stay with your parents?"_

" _No, I stayed at a hotel…")_

Ugh, I don't want to go back to the Hinata house, either. But, I guess, I'll have to do _something_. I can't stay on this bench forever.

I glance at the clocktower in the center of the park. It's after five a.m.

Giroro is probably sleeping, I think. He must have to get up early for his job at the railroad, probably in just a few hours. No, wait, yesterday was Friday, so today is Saturday. He might not have to get up and work after all. Giroro always gets up early, though, whether or not he has to go somewhere, so he'll be up soon anyway. Unless he has to work Saturdays…

* * *

A hand on my shoulder roughly shakes me awake, and I start. My glasses must have slipped off my face while I was sleeping; I put them on and look up, expecting to see a park employee trying to clear out all the homeless people before the families show up, but instead I see Giroro.

"Good morning, sunshine," I say flatly. I look again at the clock and see that it says seven. "You're out early."

"I thought it might be nice to go for a walk…" He blinks a few times. "Did you spend the night here?"

"Ye-ah."

"There's no one on Keron you could stay with? No friends or family…?"

"I _was_ staying with my dear father, but he kicked me out."

"Oh." He looks around awkwardly. "Uh, why aren't you wearing a shirt?"

I chuckle. "I was a little hot last night."

Giroro glances at the frost covered grass and raises an eyebrow at me. "Really?"

"No, not really."

"Why did your dad kick you out?" he asks.

"Because he's an asshole."

"You have a bruise on your chin," the corporal observes. "Did you get into a fistfight with him?"

"Yep."

"What was the fight about?"

"It was something stupid. I don't want to talk about it."

"That's fine, I should really get going anyway…" He sounds unsure. He turns and takes a half-step away, but then looks back and says, "What are you going to do now?"

"Well, I guess if you're not interested in messing around, then I'm going back to Pekopon."

His cheeks go faintly pink and he asks, "You're not staying on Keron?" There's a strange expression on his face.

"No."

A slight frown creases his forehead.

"What?"

"Nothing, just…" His voice trails off vaguely. He rolls his sleeves up to his elbows. We're silent for a few seconds, and then he suddenly says, "Kululu?"

"Ah?"

"Do you remember a few years ago when I kissed Saburo on accident?" he asks.

"Yeah."

"For a while after that," he tells me, "you seemed irritated with me."

"I was," I reply. I never realized that I had displayed outward signs of my displeasure with that event. I hadn't meant to.

"Why?"

"'Why' what?"

"Why did that make you angry?"

What is he doing? I don't like his prying, and if it were anyone else, I would cut the conversation off. I shake my head and shrug my shoulders noncommittally.

"You didn't care when Tamama was trying to get a 'wake-up kiss' from Keroro," Giroro says. I have to bite my tongue to keep from replying with, 'I'm not in love with Keroro'.

For reasons unbeknown to myself, Giroro gets on his knees in front of me. "Did you have feelings for me even back then?" he asks seriously.

I give a simpering look and smoothly reply, "Oh, corporal. I've had feelings for you longer than that."

He nods, with barely a hint of embarrassment showing on his face. "I don't want you to leave," he says in a hushed voice.

"That's a little unfair."

"I know," he sighs. He puts one of his hands on my right knee. The intimacy of this gesture surprises me. He looks me right in the eye and says, "I'm sorry."

I'm a little taken aback. He's actually sorry? ( _Sorry for what?_ )

"I know that I shouldn't have left, but I couldn't live there with everyone anymore," he tells me.

"Does 'everyone' include me?"

A slight look of realization crosses his face, and then he slowly says, "No, it doesn't."

Giroro momentarily covers my left knee with his other hand, but then he stands up. I wonder momentarily if he's going to walk away, but then he sits beside me and crosses his arms. He crosses his legs as well, one knee over the other, and says, "I need to tell you something."

"I'm listening."

"I have strong feelings for you," he says. There's a sheen of sweat on his forehead. "I'm not really sure why; honestly, we don't seem like we'd be a good match, and all of this was just really unexpected. You're not the person I ever thought I would end up with, but…" He bites his lip.

My heart pounds painfully in my throat. This may possibly be the best day ever.

"That's good to hear, Giroro," I say evenly, trying to ignore the shaking in my hands. I scoot closer to him on the bench and I'm pleased to see that he doesn't move away. "So, now what?" I ask.

"I don't know."

"Are you open to the idea of going back to Pekopon with me?"

"No, I'm not."

"That's good, I don't really want to anyway." I move a little bit closer to him. "Does that mean you want to stay on Keron?"

He thinks for a moment. "Not necessarily."

"You already have a job here, though."

"We can't exactly just live in my dad's house with him and my brother, though."

The corners of my mouth twitch. "You want to live together?"

Giroro starts slightly, as if surprised to hear it put that way, and hastily says, "We don't have to."

"I want to."

A shadow of a smile briefly appears on his face, but it quickly drops to be replaced with a look of dread. "We can't do this," he says.

( _GODDAMMIT GODDAMMIT GODDAMMIT GODDAMMIT GODDAMMIT_ )  
I take a steadying breath and ask, "Why not?"

He glances around wildly, but seems unable to produce an answer. "I-I don't know."

"Well, until you can come up with a reason why we can't go around together, let's figure out what to do." I raise my eyebrows and pull an innocent smile.

Giroro hesitates. "Alright."

"'Kay. If we aren't staying on Keron, and we aren't going back to Pekopon, then tell me, corporal, where are we going?"

Giroro shakes his head. "I don't know, Kululu…"

"If you could go _anywhere_ in the entire universe right now, where would you go?"

"Doinaka. There's a train expo next week," he answers immediately. "But obviously we can't go there, so…"

"Why can't we go there?"

"Because…" He stops and thinks for a moment. "Actually, there is no reason why we can't."

"Then let's go there."

"You want to live on Doinaka?" he inquires.

"No, we don't have to live there. We can go somewhere else after the train thing."

"And after that?"

"We'd go somewhere else," I reply.

"You want us to become tourists?"

"Yep," I say. "Doesn't that sound nice?"

He locks eyes with me. "Yes," he quietly replies. "That does sound nice."

For a moment, I wonder if he's going to kiss me, but he doesn't. Instead, he starts looking worried again. "What are we going to tell Garuru? And my dad? What about Keroro and the others?"

"Don't worry about that, Giroro, we can just lie…," I say in a singsong voice.

"I don't want to lie."

"Either we lie or we tell everyone that we're eloping."

A kind of despair crosses Giroro's face, and then he mutters, "Okay, we'll lie."

"Sounds good," I say, yawning.

Giroro nods distractedly, and then he leans over and presses his lips to mine. Without skipping a beat, I put one arm around his neck and hungrily return the gesture. ( _Here's the kiss I was expecting a few minutes ago!_ )

On that late night precisely one hundred and eight days ago, Giroro's mouth had tasted of bitter alcohol when I kissed him. This time around, however, it's a much sweeter taste.

He takes a deep breath through his nose and puts his hand on my back, pulling me closer in. A sledgehammer suddenly hits me painfully in the chest with emotions, the most prominent being a warm, coffee-scented feeling of love that glows brightly orange. I break off the kiss to tell him that I love him, to finally let him know ( _"But if you love him, then you at least have to try, right? You've got to let him know how you feel…"_ _)._ I open my mouth to say them, the three simple words that I've never uttered to anyone before, and instead what comes out of my mouth is, "Dororo thinks that you're too old for me."

There's a full five seconds delay before Giroro is able to process what I said and respond. " _What?_ " he asks in confusion.

"He, um, said that he thinks the age gap between us is a little too big…"

"You aren't _that_ young," Giroro replies dismissively. "There's only a… what, ten-year gap?"

"Mm. It's closer to twenty."

"Oh. Well, it's still okay, right?"

"I see no problem with it, but the lance corporal did."

"Well, he doesn't even-" Something seems to suddenly dawn on him and a horrible kind of terror contorts his features. " _How the hell does Dororo know that we slept together?!_ " he asks hysterically.

Oops.

"He, um, figured it out," I say, even though this is partly a lie.

" _That's a lie, you told him!_ "

"Well…"

" _God dammit, Kululu!_ "

"He really did figure it out, though, corporal."

" _Yeah, after you told him!_ "

"I think he was suspicious of us anyway…," I mumble.

"How?! How could he have known?" Giroro demands.

"Oh, Giroro, you can't deny that there was sexual tension between us for months before we did it…," I croon in his ear.

"I can't believe you…"

"Are you gonna call off the elopement now, baby?"

"Of course not," he replies instantly, shaking his head a little. "But I'm still mad at you."

"That's okay."

He rolls his eyes and folds his arms in front of his chest again. I guess he doesn't feel like making out anymore.

We sit on the bench for several minutes, Giroro's large eyes sharply tracking a bird's hopping progress across the asphalt while I watch him, and then he says, "I guess we only have to worry about lying to Garuru and my dad, then, huh, sergeant major?"

"Well, no." Giroro looks around at me. "Dororo is still the only one that actually knows about us. Unless he told all the others, which is doubtful."

"That's a relief. I thought it was all of them, but I guess it's okay if it's just Dororo…" For some reason, I feel a slight pang of jealousy.

We're silent for still a few minutes more. "I'm sorry," I tell him, and I really mean it.

"It's okay, Kululu."

* * *

 **＼(￣▽￣)/**


	18. 18

**Sorry this chapter took so long, I had SO MUCH TROUBLE writing it for some reason :/ whatever, tho, it should be easier from here c:**

 **Thank you everyone for the kind reviews and comments, it means a lot ^^**

* * *

I ask, "What's first, captain?" and reach for his hand, but, whether unconsciously or on purpose, he sticks his hands in his pockets.

"We should talk to Garuru and my dad first," he replies, looking left and right before we cross the street.

"Alright. What lie are we planning on spinning to them?"

"I think," Giroro says, "that we should tell people that we're going into business together."

"Starting up a company?"

"Something like that."

"How are we going to explain the traveling aspect of our plan?"

"Gathering information, canvassing, establishing clients… Something along those lines?" he suggests.

"Sure, that's plausible. Then again, we could just tell them the _truth_ ," I say, running my finger down his arm.

"No, Kululu."

I roll my eyes. "Okay."

We step up the driveway and Giroro gets his keys from his pocket. I gently touch his rear end and he looks around at me in alarm and says in a warning tone, "Don't."

He unlocks the door and we enter his house.

I'm immediately struck by the scent of coffee and burnt toast. Morning light filters in through the open windows. I can hear Garuru's deep voice coming from one of the rooms up ahead.

Giroro leads us through the house to the kitchen. This is the same room that we stood in yesterday when he told me to fuck off back home and leave him alone. Ah, what a difference fifteen short hours can make in my life.

Garuru and their dad are sitting at the table together discussing something when we walk in. Garuru falls silent and slightly raises his eyebrows. Their father, on the other hand, stands up with a low grunt and crosses to us. "Who's this?" he asks gruffly.

"This is Sergeant Major Kululu, I worked with him on the invasion of Peko-" Giroro begins, but his dad cuts him off.

"Yeah, I know who he is, but what's he doing here? Why isn't he on Pekopon anymore? Is _everyone_ deserting the military now?"

Giroro's face goes faintly pink. Garuru shoots their father a look.

"Alright, alright…," he says. "So, you're Sergeant Major Kululu. I've heard about you, but we've never met. My name is Gororo,and I'm Giroro and Garuru's father."

"It's nice to meet you, sir," I say dutifully, shaking his hand. Giroro looks at me out of the corner of his eye and I smile at him.

"This is my oldest son, Garuru," he says, gesturing.

"Yes, the lieutenant and I have met," I reply.

"Lieutenant?" Gororo asks. "No, no, he's been promoted; it's _Colonel_ Garuru now."

"Ah, congratulations," I say, nodding to Garuru.

"Thank you," he replies.

The three of us stand in awkward silence for several seconds, then Garuru says, "So, Giroro… how was your walk?" The corners of his mouth are twitching as he fights to keep a straight face.

"It, uh, was nice, you know, I… um, because… I—I met Kululu, he happened to be walking at the same time as I was, _I didn't go find him_ , we just happened to meet and we got to talking and… and…," Giroro stutters nervously. God, this is painful to watch.

"We've decided to go into business together," I interrupt. Giroro struggles to find his words for a moment more, but ultimately gives up and just nods. "It's an idea we had talked about back on Pekopon, but nothing ever came of it 'til now."

Neither Garuru nor Gororo seems at all surprised or even intrigued by this information. They exchange a glance before Garuru asks, "You're starting up a company?"

"Yes," I answer. "We were able to find an investor and get startup money for a data broker company." ( _where did I come up with that idea?_ ) ( _god damn I'm good at lying but is that a good thing or a bad thing depends on who you ask_ )

"I see."

"Our plan is to travel and gather data for companies so we can provide them with demographics," Giroro says evenly.

"Your plan is to _travel together_ to gather data for companies so you can provide them with demographics?" Gororo asks.

"Yes," Giroro replies with a hint of defiance.

Gororo chuckles. "Sounds good."

Giroro looks from his dad to his brother, his face steadily turning red. "We have to go," he says suddenly. "I'll—I'll be back later but we have to… just…" He turns to me.

"Yeah, we have stuff we need to sort out, and it's, ah, time sensitive," I say. "It was nice to meet you, Gororo." Without another word, I leave the room and Giroro follows. I look up at him once we're in the hallway; he looks mortified.

We hear a chair push back from the table and then Garuru enters the hallway. He stands close to his brother and quietly says, "Don't listen to dad, okay, Giroro? I think it's great that you're…," he hesitates, "…starting up a company." There's a little too much understanding in Garuru's tone. Giroro sighs and mutters something impossible for anyone to hear, but Garuru seems to get the gist. He smiles and briefly puts his hand on Giroro's shoulder before he turns and heads back into the kitchen.

Giroro runs his hand through his hair and I say softly, "That went, well, don't you think, corporal…?"

* * *

 **Giroro went 'on a walk' and he came back with a hoe!**

 **Oh, and at first I, too, thought that it was silly to have them all with themed names (Gororo Giroro Garuru), but then I remembered that my friends' family of five are all named some variation of the name 'Alex' so I decided that it was okay ;)**


	19. 19

**Be sure to leave a review with any questions or comments~ :D**

* * *

At first, I was under the impression that Giroro was leading us to an actual destination, but at this point it's become clear that he is just walking with no real aim.

He looks just short of miserable. Every now and then he mutters something aloud to himself, but mostly he keeps his mouth shut in a thin brooding line.

I walk beside him in silence, unsure of what to say. Perhaps if I could actually hear some of what he's mumbling, I'd have a better idea, but it's all too quiet and run-together for me to understand.

We take a left turn, and then a few blocks down we take another. Then, five minutes later, we take a third.

"We're going in circles, baby cakes," I inform him.

"What?"

"Circles, Giroro. We just took three left turns; we're going in circles… Are you even paying attention?"

He stops walking, then answers, "Not really."

I shake my head. "Is this really that big of a deal? So, they knew we were lying. So what? I thought you said you didn't want to lie to them anyway."

"I _didn't_ want to lie to them, but I'd rather lie then have them know that I'm… g-g-"

"Gay," I finish for him. He flinches. "You aren't, though."

He looks at me skeptically and I continue, "Tits and the female form excite you. You used to get a boner every time Natsumi looked at you. But you're also with me. I think that makes you bi."

"Bi?"

"Bisexual."

"Oh." He looks around. "So… are you…?"

"I would probably be considered bisexual as well."

Giroro nods. He shifts his weight back and forth and watches me fiddle with a button on my shirt.

"Are you done zooming around and mumbling to yourself, then, corporal?" I ask.

Giroro gives a short laugh that turns into a cough. "Um, yeah, I guess so."

"Let's try and figure out what we should do next, then."

"Alright, but do you want to get a coffee or something? You look exhausted."

"Yeah."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Giroro sets a cup of coffee down in front of me and I thank him. The small coffee shop that we're in is crowded and warm. He sits across from me and I say, "Have you thought about what our next move is?"

"I think that we need to find somewhere to stay," Giroro answers.

"Yep." I take a sip of coffee. "You don't want to stay at your dad's place, I'm guessing?"

"No, I don't."

"Then we better find a hotel, because I got kicked out of Huroro's house."

"Huroro…?" he asks.

"Huroro is my father's name," I explain.

"Oh. Well, a hotel is fine."

"Cool." I take a drink from my cup again. Already, I can feel the caffeine kicking in, making me feel shaky. "What are you going to do about your job?" I ask.

"I'm going to have to quit."

"Aren't you really happy in this job, though?" I ask.

"I am, but I'm going to leave it in favor of… well… you."

A little bit of guilt stings my mind. Am I worth leaving a job he loves so much?

"But don't worry about it," he says, catching my expression. "I'm still in the probationary period; if I'm going to leave, now is the time to do it. We can go see my boss tomorrow and let him know that I'm going to quit."

"It's still pretty early," I say. "We don't have to wait for tomorrow, why can't we just do it today?"

"Because there was… something else I wanted to do today," he says.

A million thoughts spring into my head, most of which are scenarios where the two of us are naked.

"I want to meet your dad, Kululu."

( _what the fuck_ )  
I'm so thrown off that it's a few seconds before I can reply. "Why the hell would you want to do something so stupid?"

"Because," he replies, "it's something I feel is important."

"I can tell you something right now, Giroro," I say. " _Huroro doesn't want to meet you_."

"Maybe not. But I don't care."

"Huroro just kicked me out last night, he'll probably punch me in the face the moment he sees me," I say.

"I wouldn't let him do that."

I shake my head. "I don't think you really understand."

"I do," he says. "But it doesn't discourage me. We won't stay for long, but I won't feel comfortable moving forward if I've never met a member of your family."

I groan. He frowns at me.

"I think you're making a bigger deal out of this than it actually is."

I don't reply because I honestly can't see myself winning this argument. I fold. "Fine."

"Thank you, Kululu," Giroro says respectfully. He reaches across the table and brushes a few curls of hair from my forehead.

* * *

Giroro raps on Huroro's door with his knuckles, the sharp sound of the knocks breaking through the sleepy silence that shrouds this neighborhood.

Giroro looks first around the porch, his eyes roaming over the cobwebs and the rotting wood, then he turns and looks behind us, and then he looks at me. "It's going to be fine, Kululu," he reassures. I don't believe him but I say nothing.

We hear the click of the door unlocking, and then it opens.

Huroro squints at Giroro for a moment, and then he turns to me. "What the hell do you want?" he snaps.

"Kululu doesn't want any trouble, we just-"

"What, you little bitch? You come back with a bodyguard?" Huroro sneers.

"He's not my bodyguard, he's my boyfriend," I say. Beside me, Giroro scratches the back of his head awkwardly.

"Okay, I see," Huroro says, "you're here to show off how much dick you're getting."

Giroro's mouth opens in surprise. "That's not - we're not - just -" he stutters, his ears turning red.

Huroro raises an eyebrow at him, and then laughs. "Is your boyfriend alright, Kululu? Oh, wait, I see," he looks me right in the eye, "he's just like you. He's a re-"

" _Don't fucking say it, asshole_ ," I hiss at him.

Giroro clears his throat and then steps forward so that he's in front of me. "Leave him alone, this wasn't even his idea," he says in a low voice. "I'm the one that wanted to come."

"Who even are you?"

"My name is Giroro; Kululu and I were part of the platoon that was sent to Pekopon."

"Why are you here?" Huroro asks.

"Because I'm… involved with your son, and I thought that we should meet," Giroro replies.

"Good for you. Fuck off."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm not interested in talking to you. Honestly, I don't care who's plowing my son, so you can leave."

"You don't have to be so vulgar, I just wanted to-"

Huroro first snaps his hand in Giroro's face then puts two fingers on his mouth, cutting the corporal off. Giroro immediately slaps his hand away, looking offended and alarmed.

I push past Giroro and grab Huroro by the front of his shirt. " _Don't fucking touch him you stupid slut you fucking prick you goddamn TWAT-_ " I pull my fist back, but Giroro grabs onto my arm and pulls me away.

"I don't want to deal with you, Kululu, you aren't even worth getting into a fight over, so why don't you and your little whore-"

"He's not a whore, you old fuck!" I shout, pulling against Giroro's grip.

"Knock it off, Kululu!" Giroro says sharply.

I turn to him and yell, " _I told you this was a bad idea!_ "

Giroro ignores me and easily lifts me up in a fireman's carry. " _Dammit!_ " I exclaim.

He points at Huroro with his free hand and says, "You're a failure of a person and a poor excuse for a father. I don't know what the _hell_ is the matter with you but you need to get your shit together. I'm sorry I ever tried to get to know you." Without waiting for a response from Huroro, he walks away.

I see Huroro give us the finger and then he slams the door.

* * *

 **Ahh, Giroro finally deals with his sexuality and Huroro shows his ugly face yet again~**

 **And speaking of Huroro's face, I just wanted to let you readers know that all this time I've been writing I've been picturing Huroro as Kevin Bacon! lol idk where I got that idea**

 **New chapter is on the way, and it should be just as good as this one c:**


	20. 20

**Thank you to SinkingWaterLily for your review, that totally brightened my day :D  
(George, Cthulu, and Whore lmao that's so funny)**

* * *

I let Giroro carry me down the block, but I start asking to be put down before we've left the neighborhood. Giroro says no and continues walking, so I stop asking after a few minutes.

He takes me back to the park we were sitting in this morning and finally puts me down.

"Your father is an asshole," he says as soon as I'm facing him. "There's no denying that."

"No one's trying to deny that, honey."

"But I wish you hadn't made a scene," he says.

"'Made a scene'? Are you serious?" I ask.

"I am," he replies. "I wanted to make a good impression and you didn't even try to be civil with him."

I suddenly feel like a little kid being scolded for misbehaving. My anger from earlier returns, now directed at Giroro. "There _is_ no being civil or reasonable with him," I spit. "That's speaking from years of experience, corporal. You haven't got the faintest idea what that man put me through for the first fifteen years of my life. It was so bad that I had to leave home, even though I had no job, no money, and nowhere to stay… Because what you just experienced back there was a mere taste of how nasty Huroro can be, and I don't think that he _deserves_ to be treated politely. I'm sorry that I didn't help you make a good impression on the vilest person in the universe."

Only one part of what I said, it seems, really sunk in to Giroro. "You left home at just fifteen years old?" he asks.

"Yeah."

"I didn't know that."

"You never asked," I reply.

He nods and then looks down while he rolls up his sleeves. When he looks back up, he says, "We have known each other for a long time now, Sergeant Major Kululu. Yet, it doesn't feel like I really _know_ you." A little sigh escapes his lips. "I don't know anything about your childhood or your family… I don't know when or why you joined the military or what you were doing before we became a platoon." He tilts his head a little to the side and characteristically raises his left eyebrow. "I don't have the same understanding of you that you've developed of me."

"Yeah."

"Let's remedy that."

"What," I ask, "you just want a full account of my life up until the moment we met?"

"Basically."

I nod ( _so I guess this is how I'll be spending my day today_ ) and gesture to the bench behind us. "I guess you better sit down, then; it truly is an epic."

I tell him first of my late mother and all of her self-righteousness and arrogance, then about my brother and sister with their equal amount of snottiness. He's already met my father, so there's no need to describe his detestable personality, but I do tell Giroro something that I've never told anyone else: about the extent of Huroro's abuse. I explain that when I was young, Huroro would often beat my mother and me until we were bruised or bleeding, his reason being simply because he didn't like us. "I know now that Huroro clearly struggles with anger and aggression, but back then I was too young to know that it wasn't simply the regular punishment that a parent gives a child. I guess I assumed that it was like that for everyone."

When I get a look at Giroro's face after hearing this, it makes me feel like maybe I shouldn't have told him after all. He looks outraged and a little sickened at the thought of Huroro's beating the shit out of a much younger me, and I half-wonder if he's going to suggest heading back to Huroro's house and flat-out murdering him.

But he doesn't. He doesn't say anything, in fact, he just waits silently for me to continue. I do. I tell him that I left home when I was fifteen, and that I managed to stay in school and avoid homelessness by working as a live-in housekeeper for an elderly teacher named Oruru who taught at the college I was going to at the time (I began taking college courses when I was fourteen as well as attending the standard military schooling that nearly all children went through on Keron) until I was old enough to join the military.

I tell him of my historic rise and fall through ranks – from private to private second and then first class, then to corporal and sergeant; I was promoted to warrant officer and then to major… until I got in trouble for 'causing problems' for the higher-ranking officers when I was twenty-five and was promptly demoted to sergeant major… I acted as an intelligence officer for a spell, and then I was drafted into Sergeant Keroro's five-man platoon to be sent to Pekopon and conquer it.

"… and I guess that's my pre-Giroro life," I say when I'm finished.

Giroro nods his head to acknowledge that he heard me, but he doesn't reply. He's thinking, I suppose; processing the sudden influx of information I gave him.

We sit peacefully together on that park bench for a long time. After a while, I move closer to him on the bench and lean my head on his shoulder, and, for once, he doesn't recoil.

The shadows grow longer as the sun works its way across the sky. My face gets a little sunburned and I notice that the back of Giroro's neck burns a bright red. It looks like it stings.

At one point during the day, I get a random erection. I don't make too much of an effort to hide it, but I do wonder if Giroro is going to ask me to move further down the bench from him. He doesn't. He's sitting with his head back and his eyes closed, relaxed and clearly not thinking about me or my penis. That's fine; I think it's good for Giroro to relax once in a while.

Somewhere around what I judge to be three or four o'clock, Giroro stands up and stretches before telling me that we're going to have to return to his father's house so he can get clothes and a few other things he needs to bring back to the hotel. I stand up as well, and we set off.

* * *

Giroro asks me to wait outside when we arrive at his house. I tell him 'okay' and he says he'll be quick before unlocking the door and going in. Honestly, I never had doubt that Giroro would be quick: I really don't think he wants to linger after our conversation with his family this morning.

In about five minutes, Giroro returns with a bag similar to my own slung over his shoulder. He pulls the door closed behind himself and says, "We need to find a hotel; it's getting late."

"What time is it?" I ask, wondering how accurate my judgement of the hour had been.

"It's almost six."

Yeah, that's basically what I thought. Okay, now, a hotel… I rack my brain for a place. I remember that one time Rinono was visiting her friends at a hotel…  
( _But why a hotel… and which hotel was it…? Oh, right, it was her friends' hotel; they had just thrown a party to celebrate opening it and my mother and brother and I went to pick Rinono up…_ ) "My sister's friend owns a little inn with her husband. I've never stayed there, but it seemed nice," I suggest.

He nods. "Okay, that's fine. Do you know where it is?"

"Yeah," I reply, "it's on the other side of town. If we're going there, we should get going; it'll be dark soon."

"Lead the way, then, sergeant major."

* * *

 **c:**

 **Be sure to leave a review~**


	21. 21

**In response again to SinkingWaterLilly's review -** **You have _no_ idea how f*cking happy I would be if you did fanart for my fanfictions, that's the best thing ever omggg! I'm so excited! :D Where would you be posting it? I'll follow you on deviantart if you have one. **

**Thank you, SWL and everyone else for all your support, it buoys me up and drives me to write better fanfiction :)**

* * *

Giroro insists that I let him pay for our room at the hotel. I don't try hard to stop him because it isn't that much, and it allows Giroro to retain what little self-respect he has for himself anymore.

He accepts the room key from the woman at the desk and pockets it, then leads us down the hallway to the door marked 19.

Giroro unlocks the door and holds it open for me. As I step into the room, I get a strange feeling that it's like we're a married couple on their honeymoon. I smile and look around at Giroro. He has a slight crease of worry between his eyebrows, but with Giroro I suppose that that's to be expected.

I feel suddenly affectionate, so I walk over to him and wrap my arms around his waist. "What do you want to do, corporal?" I ask, giving him a squeeze.

He pulls away from my grasp and awkwardly clears his throat. "Um…," he says, "Do you want to get something to eat?"

"Yeah, that sounds good," I say. "Give me a chance to get changed first, though."

"Okay."

Fleetingly, I consider just getting changed in front of him, because I don't care if he sees me and I think that it could help _set the tone_ for the evening, but I almost immediately decide against it. Giroro doesn't seem like he's in the mood to be intimate right now, so I'll (… _Like a slow burn, leading us on and on and on…_ ) stretch this out a little. I take my bag into the bathroom to get changed.

I dress in an olive green button-up shirt and black pants, I brush my teeth and comb my hair back and clean my glasses before looking at myself in the mirror that hangs on the back of the door. I look nice, I think.

* * *

We go to a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant that I've been to what feels like a billion times over the course of my life, but that Giroro says he's never gone to. I make Giroro share a curry with me because for some reason there's something so subtly arousing about seeing Giroro eat curry (and it's the most delicious thing in the world besides).

It occurs to me that this is our first date and I think to myself about how unorthodox our relationship is: First we lived together, then we had sex, then I carefully courted him, and then we had our first date. I guess that our relationship is unconventional all-around, though, so it doesn't matter.

There's a few times throughout the date that I consider telling him 'I love you', but I never end up actually doing it. That's fine, maybe I'll say it a little later this evening…

We spend a nice night just enjoying each other's company and talking about normal things and being like a regular couple for once, but we have to leave when the employees kick us out at 10:30 so that they can lock up.

It's cold outside, but the walk back to the hotel isn't that bad since I have a cute boyfriend with warm hands.

* * *

"We have to stop by the station tomorrow morning," Giroro informs me once we're back in our hotel room. "I need to tell my director that I'm quitting."

"That's fine. What time do we have to be there?"

"He usually gets there at eight," he replies. "Do you want to shower tonight, Kululu?"

"No, I'll do it in the morning," I say. "You can if you want to, though."

"I think I will."

"I'll be here when you come out, lover," I say in a sing-song voice. His face tinges pink and he doesn't reply. He closes the bathroom door behind himself and a few minutes later, I hear the shower come on.

I lie on the bed and skim through the bible that's in the nightstand drawer until Giroro comes out, his arms blotchy from the hot water and his hair standing up in wet spikes.

"Do you have your laptop with you?" he asks.

"Yes."

"Would you look up the exact date of the Doinaka Train Expo? I know it's sometime next week, but I'm not sure which days."

"Nah," I reply. "You can, though." I get my laptop from my bag and enter my user password before handing it to him.

He sits on the edge of the bed and crosses his knees as he starts typing.

I put the bible aside and swing my legs over the side of the bed to sit next to him. After a few minutes of watching Giroro look up dates, I scoot back and come up on my knees behind him. I put my hands on his shoulders and gently massage them. I feel his muscles first tense up and then relax beneath my fingers. He evidently finishes gathering information because he closes the laptop.

"I think we should go to bed, Kululu," he says quietly.

"Mm…" I put my arms around his neck and lean in to kiss him. He pulls away, yields a little and kisses me unresistingly for a moment, and then stands up.

"Kululu…" I press our lips together again. My glasses are bumping into his face, so I break the kiss to remove them.

"We really should be getting to sleep, Kululu, I-"

"You should take your pants off," I say, leaning in again.

He pushes me away, and a slight look of fear crosses his face. "I'm not going to… We're not…"

"What are you talking about?" I ask, feeling a little worried myself.

"You're trying to-to…"

"Corporal…?"

"I'm not having sex with you," he says shortly.

Dull shock registers in my mind. "But we already-"

"Kululu, I was drunk," he says. "That's not something I would have done if I were sober."

I open my mouth to say something a couple of times, but I ultimately remain silent. It's strange to think that I was so happy and confident just a few minutes ago.

My emotionally battered mind registers the feeling of betrayal for what is not even the first time in the past forty-eight hours and I look down at the carpet.  
He doesn't want to touch me. Giroro doesn't want to touch me and he never would have before had it not been for alcohol.

"I'm gonna take a shower," I mumble, even though I hadn't been planning on taking one tonight and I walk past Giroro into the bathroom that's still steaming from when he was in there.

I stand in the shower with the water running over the top of my head for a long time, but I never actually get around to washing my hair or anything.

Giroro is asleep with the light off by the time I've come out of the bathroom, his chest rising and falling peacefully and his face relaxed.

I climb into bed next to him in just my underwear and listen to his breathing until I'm finally able to doze off.

* * *

 **;_;**

 **r.i.p. Kululu's dick**


	22. 22

**here comes dat fragrantpharaoh!**

 **oh shit she's got a new chapter!**

 ***end of dead memes***

 **Thank you everyone for your continued support, I appreciate it more than you know :)**

 **Be sure to leave a review and PM me with any questions~**

 **(Also, I decided to start being a betareader for Sgt. Frog fanfictions, so hmu if you're writing one and need help)**

* * *

Giroro wakes me up at seven and tells me that we need to get ready to leave. I blearily grope around for my glasses and put them on before I dress in what I was wearing last night. My hair dried in strange gravity-defying flips from sleeping on it when it was wet and I do my best to comb it down, but it still looks a little wild. Whatever.

Giroro seems to be trying to avoid making eye contact and we exchange little conversation while getting dressed. I consider trying to make him talk to me about last night, but I decide to put that off until later on after he's quit his job.

We walk out of the inn together and start down the street, my mind occupied with fears about our future together. What if Giroro never wants to have sex? Or kiss? Or do anything physical that's normal in a relationship? How will I be able to stand living with him without touching his beautiful body?

The station is close to the inn that we're staying at, so it doesn't take us that long to get there. Giroro leads me past the tracks, into a door, through a side hallway, and up some stairs to a floor that hums with the dull, industrial sound of important people's offices.

Giroro glances at me and then walks up to the first door on the left and knocks. A man's voice invites us in and we enter the small, sunshine-lit office.

The man behind the desk (Giroro's boss, I assume) is a thin, spidery man with heavily lidded eyes and coffee-colored skin that somehow still appears pallid. His leg jogs restlessly, bumping into his desk with every other bounce, and there's a disturbing array of sores on and around his mouth. His hands look like they're shaking, but when he speaks, his voice is deep and surprisingly steady. "Good morning, Giroro," he says with a look of mild surprise. "I didn't expect to see you in today. You know you've got Sundays off, right?"

"Yes, sir, but I need to talk to you about something," Giroro replies.

"That's fine. I don't have a whole lot of time; I need to get to a meeting, but I have enough time to talk if you keep it short. And _remember_ ," Giroro's boss adds, "there's no need to call me 'sir'. Just call me Mr. Kelly."

"Sorry, it's by force of habit; I was in the military for a long time."

Mr. Kelly smiles and waits patiently for Giroro to speak.

Giroro takes a deep breath and looks at me again before he says simply, "I'm resigning." He removes a paper from his pocket and hands it to Mr. Kelly.

Mr. Kelly's smile drops and he frowns up at Giroro. "You're quitting?" he asks as he takes the paper from Giroro. "A-are you having problems or something?"

"No, I'm leaving for personal reasons; it's nothing against the company."

"Well…" Mr. Kelly opens his desk drawer (there's the distinctive sound of pill bottles rolling around) and files away Giroro's resignation notice. "… I'll be sorry to see you go. You're one of our best workers, you know."

I smile a little and Mr. Kelly turns to me, grinning brightly. "He really is! He's-" He suddenly cuts off, looking confused. "Um, have we met?" he asks me.

I shake my head and Giroro says, "This is Sergeant Major Kululu. He's my business partner. I should have introduced him earlier, I guess…"

"No worries," Mr. Kelly replies. He stands up and extends his hand. "It's nice to meet you, Sergeant Major Kululu."

I shake his hand and then Mr. Kelly turns back to Giroro again. "Are you sure you want to go? You've only been working with us for a few months."

Much to my dissatisfaction, Giroro hesitates a moment. But then he says, "Yes, I'm sure."

"Alright…," Mr. Kelly says, sounding clearly disappointed. "Are you leaving immediately or staying for a little longer?"

Again, Giroro hesitates, so I answer for him. "We're trying to leave as soon as possible."

"Okay…" Mr. Kelly scribbles a note on a slip of paper and pins it on a corkboard behind his desk. His messy handwriting reads, " **Find a replacement for Giroro** ".

We stay and make obligatory small talk until Mr. Kelly says that he needs to get going so as not to be late for his meeting. I breathe a slight sigh of relief. I need to get Giroro out of here before he tries to change his goddamn mind again.

* * *

"That was pathetic," I say acidly once we start back down the street.

" _Why?_ " he asks hotly.

"Would you _please_ just tell me if you want to do this or not, old man? I feel like you're stringing me along."

He stops walking and spits, "I already told you that I do!"

"Then fucking act like it."

His hands clench into fists and then relax. "Is this because of last night?" he asks, fighting to keep his voice level.

"Partly. Your 'business partner'-" I draw mocking quotation marks in the air with my fingers "-wants to know why you don't want to touch him."

Giroro glances around at the other people on the street and says, "This isn't the place to talk about this."

I tut, and he asks, "Can't this wait until we get back to the inn?"

"Whatever," I mumble crossly. We start down the street again.

Giroro puts his hand on my shoulder as we walk. I shrug him off and he sighs, exasperated.

* * *

"Are we allowed to talk _now_ , my beloved popsicle?" I ask as soon as we get back to our room.

"Popsicle?" Giroro questions.

"Yeah, a popsicle, 'cause you've got a stick up your arse."

He rolls his eyes. "What do you want to talk about?" he asks impatiently.

"I want to know if you find me even remotely attractive."

He shifts his weight back and forth awkwardly. "Kululu-"

"Because _I'm_ attracted to _you_ ," I interrupt. "I think that you're fucking gorgeous and it kills me not to be allowed to touch you. You've got the most handsome face I've ever seen and you have a smoking hot body… I can't even tell you how many times I've thought about that night we got drunk and screwed, the way your body felt against mine-"

Giroro puts his hands up. "Oh, my god, _stop!_ " I fall silent and he glares at me. "I _am_ attracted to you, Kululu. You should know that by now."

"I really like you, corporal," I mumble. My glasses are covered in smudges so I remove them and wipe the lenses on my shirt. "I think about you all the time… I just want to be close to you."

"I know."

"… How come you don't want to bone?" I ask. "Is your sex drive really that nonexistent? Come on, corporal," I add, "you aren't _that_ old."

He narrows his eyes at me. "Kululu…" He speaks in a low growl that's actually kind of intimidating. "We've only been together for just over twenty-four hours. It's too early to start getting physical."

I start to object but Giroro interrupts. "I don't care what you think. It makes me uncomfortable; I'm not ready for it."

( _at least he's being up-front and honest…_ )  
"Is it something I should ever expect?" I ask.

He nods. I guess that's good. He isn't _totally_ opposed to being touched.

I ask him if we're at least allowed to kiss. After a pause he says yes, and consequentially we spend the rest of that afternoon with our faces glued together.

* * *

 **D'aww c:**


	23. 23

**Good morningggg or night or whatever~**

 **I have some good news and bad news.**

 **Okay**

 **The good news is- HERE'S A NEW CHAPTER!**

 **The bad news is... this is the final chapter of Corporal.**

 **I KNOW I KNOW I SHOULD HAVE TOLD YOU GUYS but I didn't want you to be sad ahead of time aaaaaaaa**

 **However, never fear! Though this is the last chapter of this fanfiction, it is not my final story. I have a few others planned, and I was even considering writing some of this story from Giroro's p.o.v. What do you guys think about that? Ah, but that'd be later on.**

 **Soon, probably this week, I'll upload the next chapter of my upcoming fic. It's gonna be good~**

 **And this is my otp, so it probably won't even be the last of KuluGiro that you see from me.**

 **Anyway, enjoy the last chapter!**

* * *

On Monday, we return to the train station so we can buy tickets to Doinaka. A couple of the employees recognize Giroro and chat with him for a moment, asking him if he's really going to resign. When Giroro says yes, they ask why, and much to my pleasant surprise, Giroro actually tells them the truth. Partially, anyway. He says that he's going to travel and to just try to relax. The men and women he talks to nod understandingly when they hear that: evidently everyone Giroro comes into contact with observes his anxiety problems. I'm also pleased to see that he introduces me as his partner rather than as his business partner. It's not as intimate of a word as I'd like, but it's an improvement.

After we buy the tickets (which are dated for Thursday evening), we go and visit Giroro's family again and I can see that Giroro makes a real effort to hold himself together, even though it seems like just being in the same room as Garuru and his dad makes him uncomfortable. But Gororo and Garuru don't pry, and Giroro doesn't try to include them in the exact details of what our plan is. That's fine, though.

I make no further attempts to sleep with Giroro, and we spend our time for the next few days just, for lack of a better phrasing, hanging out. It's nice.

* * *

I wake up early in the morning on Wednesday. I squint around the room, now dimly lit with what little sun comes through the curtains, and think to myself that I should probably get up. ( _where are my glasses…?_ )

Ah, but how nice it would be to stay in bed… the bedsheets are smooth against my bare skin and the covers are all toasty from Giroro's body warmth…

I scoot over to him and gently caress his sleeping face. After gazing blearily at him for a moment I slide on top of his body and start softly kissing his lips.

Almost immediately, he awakes with a start and reflexively pushes me off of him. I grin and say, "Good morning, sweet prince."

Looking a little uncomfortable, he replies, "'Morning…" and then glances around. "Um… do you know where my pants are?"

I gesture vaguely to the other side of the room. "I think they're over there." I feel his weight leave the bed and quickly add, "Hand me my glasses, will you?"

He does and I put them on, leaning my chin on my hand and covetously eyeing his nude form.

I watch him dress and then he goes into the bathroom and starts the shower. I lie in bed for a while, but the bed isn't as cozy anymore without Giroro in it, so eventually I too get up and put clothes on. I open my laptop on the bed and see that Keroro has messaged me asking where the hell I've gotten to. I don't answer him.

Once Giroro is finished showering I get up and walk into the bathroom. He's standing in front of the sink, wearing a white tank top and dark grey cargo pants. There's a beard of shaving cream on his face and a razor in his hand.

"You're great at sex," I tell him bluntly. Giroro flinches and accidentally nicks himself. Blood immediately stains the pure white shaving cream and he tuts irritatedly. I see him glance at me briefly in the mirror before going back to carefully shaving his face.

"Hey...," I begin, "… why wasn't it okay to sleep with me three days ago? What changed?"

Giroro doesn't reply for a few moments. He rinses the blade off and replies, "Nothing changed, Kululu. I just couldn't wait anymore."

I lean against the door frame, grinning a little. "You're a fine specimen," I say. "I'm lucky to have you."

He frowns in a slightly concerned way but says nothing and I walk back out of the room.

I brush my hair while I wait for Giroro to finish shaving and come out. When he does, I kiss his smooth face and ask, "What's on our itinerary for today, my delicious bowl of curry?"

His eyes glance around for a moment while he thinks, and then he says, "Nothing. We're all set to leave tomorrow, so there's nothing we have to get done today."

"What do you want to do today, then?"

"I don't know; I hadn't anticipated us having a free day."

"Why don't we just have sex all day?"

He backs up half a pace. "What?"

"We can dedicate today to marathon lovemaking…" I reach up and make to touch his hair. "Come on, corporal, let's dip your wick," I say with a chuckle. Using that term hadn't sounded so funny in my head, but hearing it aloud made me laugh a little.

He puts his hand on my shoulder and moves me back an arm's length. "We aren't going to have sex for twelve hours straight. That's ridiculous."

"Your loss." I sit on the bed and pull my laptop towards me. My hands are poised over the keyboard, but I lower them and look up at Giroro. "What?"

He crosses his arms in front of his chest and says, "How do you feel about what we're doing? Leaving Keron, traveling around, being together and getting physical… Does any of that make you nervous?"

"Nope," I answer immediately. "This all feels good to me. Nothing is out of place. So I don't feel nervous." I close the laptop. "Do you feel nervous?" I ask, though of course I know the answer.

"Yeah."

"You don't have to be. You can if you want to, but there's nothing to be nervous about," I tell him.

"Yeah," he says again. "Yeah, I know that."

"Let's do something fun today, Giroro," I say, crossing my legs and smiling at him.

"Like what?"

"Let's go skeet shooting."

He cocks his head. "You want to go skeet shooting?"

"Sure. Doesn't that sound fun?"

A cute little flush comes to his face and he says, "Yes, it does, actually…"

I get up and put my arms around his neck and kiss him.

Our skeet shooting trip ends up being a little delayed.

* * *

Giroro leads me out onto the semicircle of the skeet shooting range and hands me a shotgun. Once he has reminded me of how to hold it properly, we begin.

I'm up first. After the slight delay once I have called for the target, the clay disks are shot into the air and I shoot first one, then the other. I'm so surprised that I actually hit them that I end up missing the next two that arc over me.

I continue moving around the stations like a clock. Though shooting moving targets is actually something I had training in, I still miss about half of the targets due to a lack of recent practice and to my ever-terrible eyesight.

When I've finished, I step back and allow Giroro to move in.

Greatly contrasting my own round, Giroro doesn't miss any of the disks.

It's almost awe-inspiring, in a way, to watch him shoot. His reflexes and follow-through are excellent, and his aim is one-hundred percent accurate, as always.

The gunshots sharply resound over the range with every pull of the trigger. This was a good way to spend our last day on Keron, I think.

* * *

The night air is cool on Thursday evening as we make our way to the train station. This type of evening is reminiscent of that night we made a midnight excursion to the liquor store together a few months ago. That was a good night.

The sky is cloudy and has taken on a nice orange glow from the reflection of the city lights. I walk closely to Giroro to keep warm.

We arrive at the station ten minutes to departure. Once we've boarded the train, we find two seats towards the back of the car. We sit side-by-side. Giroro crosses his legs and indulgently puts his arm around me. When I look up at his face, I'm glad to see that he looks mostly relaxed.

The conductor robots take our tickets and then bustle off to attend to the other passengers. I think about when I came to Keron less than a week ago with a mission of sorts: to collect Giroro and make him love me. Well, I guess I accomplished that. Good.

Giroro starts bouncing his leg and I look down at the upholstery of my seat.

"Yo," I say.

"What?"

I grin, keeping my gaze downward. "I love you."

Giroro's hand clenches on my shoulder. I think I must have startled him. He carefully withdraws his arm from around me and folds his hands in his lap.

I glance over at him and laugh a little at how surprised he looks. Did it really come as that much of a shock?

"I love you, Giroro," I say again.

"Yeah," he chokes out. "I-I heard you."

"It's okay if you don't love me back. But I just wanted you to know."

Giroro is quiet for a while. Other people start coming aboard the train and below the noise from all the bustle, he quietly mutters, "I love you too."

Excitement floods my body and I dissolve into a fit of giggles because I'm so happy.

Giroro smiles weakly at me. The train starts moving and I look out the window, gazing at the nighttime cityscape of Keron.

I lean my head on his shoulder and take his hand. I feel at peace.

* * *

 **And that's it :)**

 **I've got a couple of stats that I'd like to share 'cause they're neat:**

 **This fanfiction was -**

 **~108 pages**

 **~ 34,392 words**

 **~124,360 characters**

 **~used 89 instances of the word 'corporal'**

 **I really hope you guys enjoyed my fanfiction. It was a lot of work, but having support from you guys really made it possible.**

 **I'd like to give a special shout-out to SoulessAlpha. You've been with my fic from the very beginning and have always supplied nothing but your support and I deeply appreciate it.**

 **I'd also like to thank my sister for being my editor and for helping me brainstorm and keep my shit together during the writing of this fic.**

 **Thank you everyone, again. Though this is the end of this fic, a new one will come soon. One door closes, another opens.**


End file.
